Insanity
by Acidika
Summary: When a mysterious portal appears, the last thing any of Koko's crew expected was for something to come out of it. And that something was a black haired girl. Quiet, capable of besting even the most elite soldiers in combat, none of them realized just what they were really getting into when Koko hired her as yet another bodyguard... Rated M for violence, sexual content and language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So... How-Not-To-Do-Something gave me permission to do my own take of his series of stories (Lost In Transition, In A Faraway Land, and The Coming Dawn) quite a while ago, but I was so wrapped up in my own trilogy story, the Darkwood series, that I didn't really have much for this to be devoted to writing... But not anymore. Here, I present to you... MY version of his series. Long overdue, yes, but it's here, so as usual:**

 **Disclaimer: I own none of the characters portrayed in this story, it was made by a fan for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement was intended.**

* * *

Empty.

All around her was empty... Lonely, cold expanses of uneven floating plains, their flat surfaces all adorned by black and white squares in the same checkerboard design.

Her sapphire blue eyes idly scanned the dreary landscape from her relaxed perch atop the landscape's only actual landmark, a dilapidated black metal cannon surrounded by scraps and debris of itself, standing solemnly atop it's own floating plain among the rest.

This destroyed cannon was what could be called her home. She slept under the frame, and like she always did, stood watch atop the barrel. Her name...

Black Rock Shooter.

Now, like any other day spent watching... She was sitting completely immobile. Only her eyes moved. There was no wind, so her hair didn't even flutter. All was still...

Until a wind started to rise, causing her hair to sway, moving very little at first, but growing more and more strongly until she turned her gaze to a growing anomaly at the base of her cannon home.

A black orb, the surface solid and glossy, was slowly expanding by the second, clearly the source of the wind. She slowly rose from her seat atop the cannon and lightly hopped straight down to the ground, landing with barely a sound and a small bit of dust, her hair cascading back to her shoulders as the wind suddenly died down and the black orb expanded suddenly and halted all further growth.

Slowly, almost warily, she extended one hand to touch the surface of the oddly familiar orb, but the moment she so much as caressed the surface, she was forcefully dragged through by a extremely powerful pull.

* * *

Koko Heckmatyar was a renowned light sleeper, even the daily traffic on the streets could rouse her from slumber. So, on this particular morning in Brussels, as she awoke of her own accord, she was confused by the presence of Lehm, Valmet and Tojo outside her bathroom door.

"What's the matter with you three?" Koko asked with a slightly narrowed gaze.

"You tell her." Valmet's one eyed was glaring at Lehm who had his perpetual cigarette clamped between his lips.

"Well shit..." Lehm sighed for a moment. "Jonah found something... weird in the bathroom earlier, he was checking it out and he hasn't made a sound for what, fifteen minutes now?"

"Define 'weird', Lehm." Koko wasn't impressed, and her instincts about her youngest companion's health were kicking in. "Move aside, Jonah? Jonah! You in there?" Koko was about to reach for the doorknob when a dull clatter of movement came from within, and the door was opened from the other side...

By Jonah himself. Staring at Koko in his usual solemn way, but he wasn't alone. Behind him was a floating black orb, about four feet off the ground, with a glassy smooth surface, and the orb itself was about twelve inches in diameter.

"Jonah... What is that?"

"No idea." Jonah, the infamous man-of-few-words he was, replied in his usual flat, unconcerned tone. "I touched it, nothing happened."

"Nothing at all?" Koko's blue eyes flicked over to the mysterious sphere, completely stationary in the middle of the bathroom. It was like it was absorbing all the surrounding light, not reflecting any of it back... So that lead her to believe that it wasn't solid...

Suddenly the sphere rippled, moving like water disturbed by a thrown stone. Gently at first, then stronger and stronger until it suddenly tore itself open, forming a perfectly flat circle as something came hurtling out of it and the black sphere itself completely vanished without a trace.

Immediately Lehm, Tojo and Valmet pulled out their respective sidearms, directing them at the sudden arrival of a black haired girl with vivid blue eyes, who happened to have landed flat on her face in the middle of the bathroom floor.

"Wha...?" Koko was baffled by this sudden appearance of the girl, who seemed to be fading into unconsciousness, her eyelids fluttering closed and she went completely still. "Lehm, Valmet, get her up. Tojo, you alert the rest of the guys, we're heading out. I'm making a call for our meeting to be rescheduled with the air force. Jonah, you're with me."

"Where are we taking the girl?" Lehm asked as he holstered his pistol to begin lifting her. She wasn't a big girl, barely five feet tall and at most, 100 pounds.

"Hospital. I know this may sound far-fetched, but I think that black ball... was a portal to some other place on Earth... or maybe not. Might've been another dimension for all we know." Koko replied grimly, already going for her nearby satellite phone to start placing the necessary calls. "For now, put her in my bed until we can sort all this out."

* * *

Black Rock Shooter was breathing softly in her hospital bed, completely oblivious to her present surroundings. She was still out cold, and under the watchful eye of Jonah - armed with an MP5k - standing at the side of the bed. Seated beside the bed was Koko, looking bored after hearing the doctor's report concerning the girl's health.

For someone so freakishly pale and quite small-framed, she was seemingly in perfect health. In fact, the doctor was curious as to why they'd brought in someone in such good shape until Koko glared at him and said that it was just a precaution after an incident. When the doctor asked about this so called incident, Jonah stepped in at the time with his PDW, thus ending the conversation.

Now, present time, the girl was still unresponsive. It had been about an hour since her sudden arrival, and Koko hadn't left her alone for even a split second. Mostly Jonah and herself, all things considered, but for some reason Koko wanted to help her as much as possible.

Jonah suddenly turned his head towards the girl, his ever-stoic expression sharpened just before the girl started to come to. She slowly opened her eyes, first setting her gaze upon Jonah beside her.

"You're awake." Koko sat up in her chair, causing the girl to turn her sapphire blue gaze over to the other pair of blue eyes in the room. "Can you understand me?"

She nodded, very slowly, staring at Koko with an emotionless expression, blank and unreadable.

"Alright, so what's your name?" Koko went on, taking note of the strange gear-like shapes in her iris, standing out against the blue.

"Black Rock Shooter." The girl spoke in a voice very befitting of her expression, low, monotone and devoid of any real emotions.

"So.. Do you know where you are?" Koko asked, and Black Rock Shooter shook her head. "So, um... Are you... Human?"

"No." She answered in the same flat voice.

"So what are you?" Koko asked warily, preparing for the worst response.

"Me." Black Rock Shooter shrugged slightly, as if to say she had no answer to the question.

"Well that isn't helpful... Now then, how do you feel?" Koko continued their conversation, despite the limited responses from Black Rock Shooter.

"Fine."

"What did you do, wherever you're from?"

"Fight."

"Fight?" Koko raised an eyebrow, and Jonah's grip on the MP5k tightened subtly.

"Kill."

"Oh, I see... Well, in that case, are you interested in using your skills here while we figure out what happened, alright?" Koko queried, resting her chin on her raised fist while her elbow was on her knee.

"Kill?" Black Rock Shooter narrowed her eyes, a brief shadow of suspicion crossing her features.

"Not exactly. Protect. Make sure nobody kills me. How's that sound? I can handle all of the arrangements." Koko explained. "So, what do you say... Rock?"

"Yes."

* * *

Within an hour, Koko had already placed the necessary calls for what Rock needed at the bare minimum to begin working as a member of her crew. The rest, for now, could be covered by the rest of the crew.

So, after her short errand to her contacts, she returned and handed Rock a few choice items; a passport, a wallet and a change of clothes. The last part in particular was because Rock was wearing some admittedly limited attire: A black bikini bra and hotpants, knee height black boots and a long black duster with a big white star on her back and white stripes on the sleeves.

"What these?" Rock recognized the clothing for what it was, but the passport and wallet were completely new to her.

"This is a passport, it allows you to travel to certain places. This is a wallet, it's a storage thing for certain items, it'll make sense at some point." Koko indicated each object as she handed over the modest outfit, a tank top and a light zippered hoodie - both black, of course - and gestured for her to put them on under her longcoat.

She did, and didn't notice Jonah's gaze travel to her sides, where he noticed she had two very large scars, one on her hip, the other along the side of her lower ribs, that seemed to still have some sort of stitching in them.

As his gaze continued upwards, he noted that she was wearing some sort of choker-like necklace with a small padlock in place of an ornament. He minutely pursed his lips before returning his gaze to Koko, who was looking quite pleased with herself as the girl quickly finished dressing herself and zipped up the hoodie.

"Now then... You're going to be part of a group of others that do the same job as you, Jonah here will help you with things until you're all settled in, Rock. For now, Jonah, give her your Browning, she'll need a weapon."

"No." Surprisingly, it was Rock that objected, even with Jonah already pulling the sidearm out of his leg pocket. "My weapon."

"You've got a weapon? Where? In your coat?" Koko couldn't help but sound skeptical, the girl had such limited attire that carrying even a self-defense pistol, like a Beretta Jetfire, would be very unlikely.

Rock shook her head, holding up her empty hand ahead of herself, her arm at full length. She then curled her fingers into a fist, which was accompanied with an oddly mechanical flurry of sounds as blue lights flashed from her fingers, quickly replaced by glossy black metal that moved and locked into position to form a massive monolith-looking object, with her still raised hand grasping something on her end.

With a sudden clunk of finality, the weapon's barrel snapped three raised flanges into position, only to begin humming slightly as the end of this weapon's barrel began to glow blue.

"Rock Cannon." Rock stated simply, reaching to the underside with her other hand, and with a quick tug, produced a reasonably sized sword made of the same black metal. "Black Blade." She indicated her sword with a little shake of the weapon.

"I..." Koko was speechless, not only was the Cannon longer than Rock was tall, it was pocketed with scuffs, dents and even slash marks, denoting heavy usage in combat. So wherever this girl was from... it clearly wasn't all that pleasant of a place. "Is that heavy?"

"No." Rock effortlessly lifted it over her shoulder, holding it at a slight angle so it wasn't touching the floor, her Black Blade still gripped in her otherwise relaxed other hand.

"I still want you to have one of... OUR weapons, alright? Just in case you can't use yours." Koko gestured for Jonah to hand over his pistol anyway.

She accepted the weapon, staring at it for a moment before shoving it into her longcoat's pocket.

"Now then... We'll teach you how to use it when we head back to Sussex tomorrow. Until then, stick with Jonah and me."

"Okay." Rock slid her sword back into the Cannon, then with the same blue light, made it vanish entirely as she followed Koko out of the hospital room, with Jonah behind them.

Parked out in front was one of the crew's rented SUV's, which Koko was currently the one in possession of the keys. So, after climbing into the driver's seat, she glanced out the side window to see Jonah gesturing for Rock to get in ahead of him.

So she really is from another world, huh? Koko thought to herself as she watched Rock climb into the back seat and immediately turn her head to watch Jonah for assistance, her eyes razor sharp as he calmly closed the door and put his seatbelt on. She immediately imitated his actions, hearing the satisfying click as she succeeded.

With that, Koko started the engine - earning the first real expression on Rock's face, a startled, wide-eyed stare - and she drove back to the hotel where the rest of the crew was waiting for them.

* * *

"Everyone, this is Black Rock Shooter, or Rock for short. She'll be joining our ranks as a new recruit." Koko clapped her hands for attention from her assembled men, woman, and boy.

The entire crew, aside from Jonah, had yet to meet her conscious, so they all chorused their hello's as Lehm pinched his lit smoke between his fingers, standing near the open window.

"Rock, is it? Huh, I'm the squad leader, so unless Koko says otherwise, you follow my orders. Is that understood?" He exhaled his lungful of smoke as he asked the final question.

"Yes." Rock didn't really spare him much of a glance, she was too busy examining everyone else's faces to care.

"Alright, now then..." Koko put her hands onto her hips as she spoke. "Our meeting with the air force was pushed back by three hours, so we need to leave now to make it in time."

"You heard the lady, let's go." Lehm extinguished his smoke as they all stood up and filed out of the room, with Jonah and Rock taking up the rear, enveloped in their respective silences.

* * *

While Koko was meeting with the military officials, Rock and Jonah were told to stay by her side, so both were impassively waiting near the door, neither all that interested in the meeting. Jonah was staring in Koko's general direction, while Rock was idly scanning each of the officer's faces for signs of hostility towards Koko. Her face was her usual blank mask, but her eyes were razor sharp.

As the meeting came to a close, Koko shook hands with the officers, then gestured for her two young companions to follow her out of the building, not speaking until they'd reached the awaiting SUV where Ugo and Lehm were waiting, the older of which was smoking outside the vehicle. The rest of the crew was in the second SUV, with Tojo behind the wheel.

"So..." Koko began, her perpetual smile firmly in place. "We got the deal, we deliver the kits next Tuesday. For now, we head back to Sussex to sort everything out with HQ and help out a certain someone..." She indicated Rock by her side, standing at about arm's length, staring at a blue butterfly that was fluttering towards her...

And perched itself right on her nose. She immediately went cross-eyed, getting adorably angry at the cheeky insect, her hands curling into fists by her sides as the insect slowly moved it's wings, unconcerned with her emotions.

"Jonah... Don't move fast... I want you to..." Koko didn't take her eyes off the unbearably cute display, whispering to Jonah on her other side.

Click.

"Got it." Jonah already saw it in Koko's eyes that she wanted him to take a picture of this one-in-a-million opportunity before Rock reacted or the butterfly flew away.

Rock scowled, one hand slowly moving up from her side, open palmed, clearly planning to swat at the butterfly, but the insect suddenly flapped it's wings and took off, only for - to everyone's astonishment - Rock's hand to shoot forward and snatch the fleeing butterfly out of mid-air, not killing it, but rather capturing it.

"Damn, that was impressive." Koko commented as Rock opened her hand, glaring at the butterfly with a frown on her face.

"That's called a butterfly, Rock. It won't hurt you." Lehm smirked at her hateful glare. "Let it go so we can get going."

"Butterfly stupid." Rock commented quietly to the insect before it flew off.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ten bucks says security gives her a hard time." Lehm whispered to Lutz, a huge grin on his face as Koko and Rock both prepared to enter the airport's security checkpoint.

"Which 'her' are we talking here?" Lutz challenged, even though he knew Lehm meant Rock.

As Koko entered the metal detector, it didn't go off, since the pro she was, she'd made sure to wear casual attire and flip flops to streamline the process.

Now, Rock's turn. Right away the metal detector went off, and a guard held up a hand for her to stop.

"Sorry sweetie, could you step aside, please?"

Rock, looking utterly bored, did as she was asked, and heaved a silent sigh as the guard instructed her to hold up her arms. She did, idly watching his hands as he reached out to frisk her hoodie - her longcoat was safely stored in with Valmet's luggage - causing her to narrow her eyes suspiciously as he did his job.

Next he took a handheld metal detector, passing it along each arm, her boots, and then in front of her face, until it went off near her neck, right by the choker at her neck.

"Ah, your necklace, sweetie. Okay, you can go on through now." The guard gestured for her to join Koko, who had stood off to the side to wait.

"Necklace, huh?" Lehm commented with a sly smirk as the two of them joined the rest of the crew. "Jonah's about to go next... wait for it..."

"For what?" Rock looked up suddenly at his comment, staring at him suspiciously as Jonah set off the metal detector and visibly sighed.

"You too little guy?" The same guard chuckled as Jonah already had his arms up.

"Left buttcheek. I have a bullet fragment in my ass." Jonah reported without even batting an eye.

"Alright, let me just..." The guard checked with the detector and it did indeed go off when he passed it behind Jonah's backside. "Alright then, sorry to hear about that, you have a safe flight."

* * *

Rock didn't seem all that comfortable aboard the plane to England, her features visibly tense for almost the entire flight. But none of the crew could blame her, since it was clearly a first time experience.

In London, the first thing she did when they landed was breathe an audible sigh of relief as they filed out of the plane to collect their luggage.

Of course, upon catching sight of Valmet's bag, she suddenly refocused, clearly remembering that her longcoat was in there. But, since she knew it was in good hands, she didn't spare it any more thought as they got into their vehicles and drove away.

* * *

At the crew's HCLI-owned property, down at the firing range, Rock was presented with the crew in their usual combat gear, all armed with their respective weapons. Of course, being in the company of the crew, she was free to ditch her hoodie and tank top for her clearly preferred bare minimum attire and longcoat.

"So the boss told us you have some sort of weapon, huh? Well let's see it, Rock." Lehm chuckled at the stoic girl's choice attire, but wanted to see what she was capable of.

With the same curled fist as in the hospital room, she manifested the massive cannon, much to the crew's astonishment.

"Rock Cannon." She spoke as she put the weapon over her back like before.

"So what's it shoot?" Lehm continued, staring at the well marked surface of the barrel. He knew it was also used as a melee weapon and a shield by the various marks adoring the surface.

"Bolts."

"Alright then, you see all those targets behind us?" Lehm indicated the ballistic targets lined up downrange. "I want you to shoot five of them with your Cannon, alright? Go for it."

Rock nodded, and hefted the Cannon over her shoulder, directing it downrange with one hand, which was followed by the barrel whining as if it was charging up a laser.

With a bang, the Cannon jumped up with a blue muzzle flash as one of the targets was broken clean in half by the bolt of energy, scorching what remained.

But that didn't stop her, she just shifted her Cannon towards the next target, fired, and kept going until five of the wooden targets were smoldering in a row, and she put the Cannon back over her shoulder without so much as a glance at her handiwork.

"Damn thing's like a grenade launcher." R commented, aghast at the display, as were most of the men.

"Here, try this. We call this an MP5." Lehm handed over the submachine gun by the foregrip. "We're gonna show you how to use what we call 'guns'. That Cannon of yours is a bit too much firepower for our line of work."

"Cannon bad?" Rock looked surprisingly sad as she asked.

"No, that's your weapon and all, we just want to show you _our_ weapons, it's only fair, right?" Wiley spoke up with a calm tone. "So what do you say, want to try the MP5?"

"Okay." Rock dismissed her Cannon and took the weapon from Lehm, recalling the way that Jonah carried the one in Brussels.

"Alright, watch how I hold this." Lehm indicated his assault rifle, raising it to his shoulder as if to fire it. "Pull it into your shoulder with this hand, and press your cheek against it. We'll go from there."

Rock imitated his actions, peering through the sights like a natural.

"Alright, now, see that thing on the end? That's the sight. That's how you aim the gun. Point it at a target." Lehm crouched down beside her, indicating the front iron sight with his index finger. "Now, this part back here is the safety, right now, the gun won't shoot. But, if you click it like this..." He lifted the catch to the semi-auto position. "It's ready to fire. See this part here?"

Rock followed his pointing finger to the ring covered stick on the grip. "Yes. Trigger."

"Oh yeah, your Cannon..." Lehm nodded. "Go ahead and shoot at a target then. It will shoot once, so let the trigger go before you shoot it again. We'll continue with the next part after you fire a few rounds."

Since she was already sighted on a target, Rock just let Lehm back off and fired five rounds into the same target, about five inches apart overall.

"Alright, see the safety? Lift it up all the way, and then hold the trigger down to fire more bullets. Just let go of the trigger to stop shooting." Lehm instructed, pinching his cigarette between his lips.

Rock did as she was told, then repeated the aiming process before firing several rounds from the gun, finding the recoil easily managed. She fired another burst, paused and fired one more until the gun clicked empty.

"See, our weapons have a concept called ammunition. They can only shoot so many times before it needs to be refilled, which is called reloading. See that part hanging out from the bottom of the gun?" He pointed at the MP5's long thin magazine. "That's where the ammo is. It's called a magazine. Come here and take this one." He reached to the table that Koko was seated at, picking up a loaded spare. "I'll show you how to reload the MP5."

Rock lowered the MP5 and approached, accepting the magazine in her left hand, staring at it briefly before returning her attention to Lehm.

"Now, pull this little part here all the way back and push it up into this little slot." Lehm indicated the charging handle on the gun's foregrip.

Rock curled her index finger around the handle, pulled it back and locked it into the slot before turning to Lehm for the next step.

"Now, see this here? Press it with your thumb while pulling the magazine out of the gun." Lehm indicated the mag release. "After that, shove the new one into the slot and slap the charging handle downward, it'll go back into place by itself."

Rock, still holding the new mag in hand, did all the steps of replacing the mag, then smacked the charging handle down with the infamous clacking sound, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Now do it again." Lehm grinned at her, chuckling at her sudden frown.

Rock repeated the whole process, putting the first magazine back into the gun and performed the H&K Slap to reset the charging handle once more.

" _Faster._ " Lehm ordered.

"Lehm, that's alright, we need to show her a pistol now." Koko held up her hand to stop Rock from continuing. "Remember that gun I had Jonah give you?"

"Yes. Browning." Rock placed the MP5 on the table and tossed the mag beside it.

"Very good. Now, in our world, there are many, many different guns, but they generally fall under certain categories. That MP5 is a 'submachine gun'. Jonah's Browning is a 'pistol', sometimes called a 'sidearm' or a 'handgun'." Koko explained. "Now, would you like to choose one for yourself, or shall I select one for you? I have a few here for just that."

"Me." Rock nodded, and Koko gestured to several gun cases at the other end of the table.

"Alright, let me know which one you're most interested in using." Koko nodded for her to go ahead and check the cases.

So, opening each case and lifting out the various pistols, Rock quickly had them all spread out on the table, staring at them in her usual silence. Her hand idly trailed over each one, the Sig P226, Beretta M92f, Glock 17, USP.45, M1911a1, even the mighty Desert Eagle... only to travel back to the M1911a1 and pick it up.

She stared at the .45 caliber pistol, the classic Government model, before looking up at Koko and saying. "This one."

"The Colt M1911a1 Government. An excellent choice." Koko nodded approvingly. "Alright, Jonah, you teach her how to use the Colt."

Jonah stepped forward, snatching a box of .45 ACP from another table, and stopped beside Rock. He placed it beside her as he reached into the Colt's case and produced one of the three spare magazines from inside.

"This is the magazine, it holds 8 rounds." Jonah began. "These are the rounds it uses, they're .45 ACP." He indicated the box. "Put the gun down for now, let's start with how to load the magazine."

All of the adults were eagerly watching Jonah carefully teaching Rock how to utilize her new weapon, starting with the tedious task of loading mags, then loading the gun itself, and lastly, operating it. Rock also seemed to be particularly enjoying his tutoring, a very faint smile tugging at her lips.

So, after eight shots from her gun, the slide locked back and Rock pressed the mag release, catching the empty mag in her hand before turning to Jonah, clearly a better shot with the sidearm than the MP5. Her grouping was about three inches wide for all eight shots.

"Well done." Jonah had nothing more to say, so he stepped back to continue checking over his own weapon, his FN FNC assault rifle.

"Now then, Rock, come sit with me while the crew does their drills. I want to talk to you for a bit." Koko beckoned for Rock to join her.

Rock nodded, resetting her Colt's slide and walking over to sit on the folding chair that Koko was presenting to her, leaving Lehm to call the others forward and began briefing them on their planned practice session.

"So, I'm going to explain what I do for a living. If you have any questions, just ask, alright?" Koko smiled at Rock's single nod. "Now, all these weapons, they're called small arms. stuff any person can just carry all by themselves. There are many, many weapons in this world, big ones, small ones, some so big it takes dozens of people to operate. And what I do... is I sell them to people. I am known as an arms dealer."

"Cannon too?" Rock immediately clenched her hands into her lap.

"No, that's yours. I can't sell it." Koko shook her head. "I sell guns and missiles, for the most part. Sometimes I sell ammo. It all depends on what the buyer wants from me."

"Okay." Rock seemed to understand, so Koko continued.

"But, that doesn't mean that things always go according to plan. Some people try to kill me, so I have you and the rest of the team to protect me. I neglected to explain these things in Brussels intentionally, but now that we're here at our main safehouse, I can go into further detail."

"I understand." Rock nodded again.

"Now, as one of my bodyguards, I pay you for your services on a monthly basis, you get the same as everyone else, how you spend it is up to you. Since you're not exactly from here, I'm going to arrange for some... lessons to help you get used to living here, okay?"

"Lessons?"

"How to act human, even though you're not one." Koko smiled. "Now then, on a different note, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I noticed that you started smiling when Jonah was teaching you how to use your Colt. What was that all about?" Koko's smile was genuine as she noticed that Rock's impossibly pale skin - even more than her own - almost instantly went pink from embarrassment.

"I like him." Rock mumbled, looking away from Koko for a moment, only to set her gaze upon Jonah himself, making her face go even more red.

"He's quite the catch, indeed." Koko knew she'd found Rock's weakness, but didn't goad her any further. "You're free to pursue him as much as you want, just don't let it interfere with your job of protecting me, alright? My life before his, is that clear?"

"Yes." Rock nodded, unaccustomed to these feelings regarding Jonah. Despite the positive aspect of the feelings, it still felt so... strange.

* * *

That evening, after drills were finished, the whole crew returned to the safehouse on the property, all settling in for dinner, which was going to be cooked by Tojo and Mao. The two of them went off to handle food preparations, leaving the rest of the crew to relax after their 3 hour drills. Koko and Jonah, however were directing Rock to one of the spare rooms, which was to become her own at the Sussex house, which in reality was Koko's own personal residence that she'd renovated over the years to accommodate her ever expanding crew of bodyguards.

"So this'll be your room whenever we're here. We also have a ship, called the Atlas, you'll have a room onboard as well." Koko presented the bedroom, plainly furnished, to Rock, who idly scanned the room, warmly lit by the setting sun through the window.

"This place home?" Rock wandered inside and sat on the bed, recalling that before she came here, she slept underneath the frame of a huge cannon.

"Yes, here in Sussex, and aboard the Atlas is your home. What was your old home like?" Koko asked curiously, watching Rock idly trace her hand along the bedspread.

"Sleep under cannon." Rock replied after several seconds of silence. "Floating island."

"Your cannon?" Koko asked, thinking of her weapon... which admittedly was large enough to cover the girl, if she curled up under it and had it propped up on something.

"Big cannon. Not Rock Cannon." Rock shook her head.

"Sounds like what we'd call 'artillery'." Koko smiled slightly, getting a better, but still vague picture of what Rock meant.

"What now?" Rock looked up curiously.

"We're waiting on dinner, Mao and Tojo are cooking tonight, they'll call us when it's done." Koko explained. "So, do you have any particular interests, aside from killing things?" Of course, as she asked this, her gaze drifted down to Jonah by her side, taking on a mischievous glint, hinting at Rock's confession earlier.

"No." Rock shook her head. "Nothing."

"Well, let's see if we can change that, hm?" Koko liked this little challenge, finding something that she liked would be an interesting learning experience. "Let's start with what we have in the house, alright? C'mon."


	3. Chapter 3

Rock didn't really take a liking to anything that the crew had in the house by the time Mao and Tojo called for everyone to assemble for dinner. She sat beside Jonah at the table, neither really talking - as was their style - but regardless they both had second helpings of food, which surprised everyone, given Rock's small stature.

After they'd all finished, Wiley and Lutz were tasked with cleaning up, so everyone else went to do their own thing, leaving Rock and Jonah to just wander back upstairs. They stopped outside of Jonah's room and only briefly stared at each other before Rock went to her own room and sat on the bed.

Her Colt was laying on the bedside table, unloaded, but with the spare magazines and the partially used box of ammo right beside it. After a moment of staring, she decided to at least load the magazines before she went to sleep.

So, after counting out the 24 rounds she'd need, she began loading her first magazine when someone knocked on her door. She looked up and saw Koko holding a folded fabric bundle in her arm.

"I figured you would want something warm to wear to bed, so I dug around some of my old things and found these. They're not perect, but they'll do for tonight until we head into London tomorrow to get you set up properly, alright?"

"What are those?" Rock finished loading her magazine and set it aside, starting on the next one as she spoke.

"Pajamas." Koko replied. "They're clothing meant to keep you warm while you sleep..." She paused, a thought briefly crossing her mind. "Um, can I ask you about back where you're from?"

"Big cannon?" Rock looked up again, noticing Koko's shift in topic.

"Yes, about big cannon." Koko nodded, and Rock agreed with a nod of her own, so Koko stepped inside and closed the door over before taking a seat beside the otherworldly girl. "So, you mentioned you sleep under it... But I didn't think you meant literally."

"In corner, under big cannon's leg." Rock spoke her longest sentence yet, still dutifully loading her ammo into the mags. "Why?"

"Well, it's just... this thing here." Koko patted the bedspread between them. "We humans sleep in these, they're called beds."

"I see." Rock spared Koko's hand a glance as she finished the second mag and moved onto the last one. "Wear pajamas, sleep in bed."

"That's right. One last thing..." Koko stood up, leaving the warm flannel pajamas where she'd been sitting. "We all wake up at a specific time, do you... um... understand how a clock works?"

"Yes." Rock paused her loading to point her index finger at Koko's wristwatch. "7:22pm, right now."

"Well, alright then..." Koko took the surprise in stride. "We wake up at 6am, everyday. No matter where we are in the world, same time. Alright?"

"Yes, 6am wake up time." Rock returned to her loading, sliding the last round into her mag and adding it to the others. "What now?"

"Well, that's up to you. If you want to go back down to the firing range, go ahead. Just try to be back by the time it gets dark." Koko shrugged, still unsure about what Rock would like to do.

"Sleep early for today." Rock sighed for a moment. "Very tired."

"Well, in that case, I'll see you at 6 tomorrow morning. Sleep well." Koko waved as she left the room, closing the door completely behind herself as she left.

Rock didn't waste any time in changing into the pajamas that Koko had left for her, kicking off her boots beside the bed before pulling the blankets aside to climb into the bed and curling up to sleep. Her light was already off since the natural light from her window was only a warm orange right now, soon to darken to twilight... But by that point, she was fast asleep.

* * *

Down the hall, Jonah sitting on the floor with his back against his bed, one knee raised while his forearm rested on his kneecap. He was very much awake, and not planning to fall asleep after an... uncomfortable dream just a few minutes ago.

As much as he didn't want to, he forced himself to replay that strange vision again in his mind... Rock, with white hair and red eyes, wearing a reversed version of her usual outfit - white overall with a black star - had been straddling his legs, her hands on his chest to pin him down as she said one phrase, just once...

"I'm watching you." Jonah repeated her words to himself, feeling the slightly sinister air they carried. There was no way that was really Rock. It wasn't possible. He just _knew_ that fact... But how could he prove it?

Putting the butt of his hands over his eyes, Jonah tried to recall every single detail of this alternate Rock that he could, burning it into his mind as a still image...

After several seconds, Jonah felt confident that he'd gotten it devoted to memory. And with that, he began mentally scouring this image for any little detail, a flaw, something out of place... anything to prove it wasn't really Rock...

And then he realized it.

"The scars..." Jonah opened his eyes, finally realizing it. That white version of Rock had no scars on her sides at all! It wasn't an imitation attempt, it really wasn't Rock! "Shit..." Jonah heaved a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. So he had some strange guardian angel watching over him now.

As he sat there, there wasn't a single sound in the whole house. Not even Lehm's snoring... But he suddenly looked up towards his door, sensing someone was there.

It was Rock, peering timidly around the door frame with a worried expression on her face, in a set of slightly too big flannel pajamas.

Jonah relaxed at the sight of her, she looked like she'd had a similar nightmare, so he pushed himself up to stand, and gestured wordlessly for her to come in.

She immediately scurried inside, clearly frightened by whatever was in her nightmare, and went headlong into Jonah's bare chest, wrapping her arms around his lower back and buried her face into his chest.

Jonah held her, it was the first thing that came to mind. She was scared, it was that simple. For tonight, she could stay here with him so that she wasn't alone.

"You alright?" Jonah spoke up after a moment, and she nodded into his chest without looking up at him. "C'mon, we both need to sleep."

Rock tightened her grip around his body, not willing to let him leave her alone.

"Don't worry, I meant we need to get into my bed if we want to sleep." Jonah knew what she was thinking with the gesture. "C'mon, let me go for a sec."

After several seconds, Rock finally released him, still a bit anxious as Jonah gently placed his hands on her shoulders to lead her closer to the bed.

Once they were settled with Rock imitating her previous pose of embracing his stomach, with her head against his chest, her ear perfectly positioned over his heart. She found the slow, steady rhythm soothing, which eventually lulled her to sleep.

Jonah stayed awake for a short while after she'd fallen quiet, making sure she was alright before he simply smiled and closed his eyes as well.

* * *

At 6am the next morning, Jonah, as always, was awake in almost an instant, but before he could get out of bed, he had to extract himself from the surprisingly firm grasp of a certain otherworldly female that was currently latched around his stomach... Who was also still fast asleep.

For some reason, Jonah couldn't bring himself to try waking her up. Ever fiber within him resisted breaking the extremely adorable moment, plus she looked so at peace right now...

And then she opened her eyes. Quite suddenly, in fact. Her gaze traveled up Jonah's chest until she met his own gaze and she just blinked once, her expression admittedly unconcerned.

"It's six, let's get going." Jonah smirked, somehow finding this whole scenario completely natural. It was just time for them to begin their day, is all.

So, after Rock returned to her room to get redressed in her hoodie and shorts, she was almost about to leave her room when she stopped and remembered to grab her gun, ammo and wallet, shoving them into her various pockets before sliding her sleeves further up her forearms and hurrying downstairs to find Valmet and Koko were beginning preparations for breakfast, Jonah was already by their side in the kitchen, rummaging for plates and bowls in the cupboards.

"Hey Rock, How'd you sleep?" Koko asked, taking note of her rolled up sleeves with a small smile.

"Nightmare." Rock replied, unconcerned with details as she stopped in the doorway, unsure of what she should be doing. She'd just been going on some sort of auto-pilot until Koko had spoken.

"Well, you seem alright, so if you could help Jonah set the table, that'd be great. After breakfast you, me and Valmet are going into London to get you some proper clothing. Can't be running around in my old things all the time, even though you did look so _cute_ in them..." Koko's smile turned into a shit-eating grin for a moment, as if she knew something that was worthy of being called blackmail.

"They were warm." Rock didn't seem to notice - or care for that matter - as she joined Jonah in carrying out the plates and cutlery for breakfast.

"I could be wrong... but I swear you're trying to tease her about something that only you know about..." Valmet, having noticed Koko's smile shift, spoke up as she set about her task.

"She told me something last night... I won't betray her trust about it..." Koko's smile returned to normal as she inwardly thought '... _yet_.'

* * *

After yet another display of disproportionate appetite, Rock seemed to be quite pleased with her hardy intake of breakfast, and was quite curious what every adult was drinking with their food... a hot, brown beverage in mugs rather than glasses like hers and Jonah's orange juice.

"What's this?" Rock indicated Mao's mug, since she was sitting beside him, with Jonah on her other side.

"Oh, that's coffee. It's a type of drink to give someone more energy and helps them to wake up."

"Morning drink?" Rock's curiosity was piqued even further by his explanation.

"Yeah, definitely a morning drink, but you can drink it during the day if you're tired." Mao smiled at her naive curiosity. But, he knew what her next question was about to be, and he knew from direct experience from his own children that it was a bad idea...

"Yours smells funny." Rock tilted her head slightly, frowning cutely as she returned her attention back to her last few bits of scrambled eggs. "Valmet's smells better."

Almost everyone snickered at her admittedly unexpected commentary, since everyone was actually thinking the same thing; that she'd request to try some for herself.

"Actually, Rock... I'm not drinking coffee." Valmet spoke from behind her hand to hide her giggles. "I'm drinking tea."

"Is tea like coffee?" Rock, once again, set her sights on Valmet, her fork halfway to her mouth as she stared.

"Yes, it just tastes and smells different, is all." Valmet nodded.

"Hm... Smells good." Rock went back to her food, ending the adorable conversation just as quickly as it arose.

* * *

Later that morning, around 11:30... London's shopping district, in one of the mall's parking lots.

Rock wasn't really sure why Jonah tagged along with the three women... But at the same time, she was pleased that he was with them. She couldn't explain this satisfaction she had whenever he was near her, it just felt... good.

"So, now that we've got your clothes all sorted out, I think you need... a little something unique to call your own." Koko deposited their latest bag of purchases into the crew's personal - armoured - sedan's backseat, adding to an already sizable collection. "I mean, a girl's gotta look at it and feel absolutely special, y'know?"

Rock, although slightly more vocal during that shopping spree, wasn't sure what Koko was talking about. They'd gotten her over two dozen full outfits - plus bras and panties galore - to mix and match - plus a specific outfit called a suit that went together as a whole - to her liking, plus several pairs of shoes and boots, and on top of that... accessories to go with everything... But somehow Koko thought that something was missing from the whole event.

"If you see something that you think fits that particular bill, just let us know, alright?" Koko smiled at her second stoic teen bodyguard. Her first had his back turned, eating an orange he'd brought with him from their breakfast that morning.

"Hungry." Rock knew that the parking lot wasn't a good place to start her search, so she simply announced what she felt a moment before her stomach audibly growled.

"Well, let's go deal with that, shall we?" Koko smiled as she shut the door and lead the three of them back into the shopping mall for the food court.

While they were waiting in line, Rock had her hands tucked into her pocket, idly tracing her thumb along the side of the slide. Something was making her uneasy... and it was very close.

With a low growl of frustration, Rock turned her head to scan the crowds, only to suddenly freeze when she felt a cold hand begin to grope her ass, sending a chill up her spine. She didn't know what to do...

She tried to take a step forward as the line shuffled, but the cold hand just moved with her, making her heart begin racing even faster.

"K...Ko...Koko..." Rock's voice was shaking as she slowly reached forward to pinch her boss' sleeve, but almost as she did so, Jonah's head suddenly snapped towards her with a vicious scowl.

"Get your hand off of her before I remove it _for_ you." Jonah spoke in a deadly calm voice, one hand already moving towards his hidden Browning Hi-Power.

"Oi, who you talkin' too lad? Me?!" The older, slightly pudgy man standing behind Rock glared at Jonah, too angry for the situation at hand, which gave away his guilt. Rock was looking pleadingly at Jonah as minutely nodded at her, a signal that she'd be alright.

"Last warning." Jonah glared at the man, his hand already around the grip of his gun and the safety off.

"Piss off, you wanker!" The man sneered, only to realize too late that Jonah wasn't bluffing and whipped out his gun to pistol whip him in the jaw.

As quick as he swung, the gun was tucked back into his pocket as he extended his unused hand to Rock, only for her to rush into his chest, tears in her eyes from relief.

"I think the public humiliation is more than enough, I won't call the police." Jonah glared at the downed man while he comforted Rock. "Let this be a lesson to you."

Several bystanders began applauding, and one of the employees behind the counter beckoned for the two of them to come forward, handing over a whole bag of cookies, free of charge. Valmet and Koko, to their credit, thought that Jonah handled it excellently and felt no need to step in to assist him. They just let the two of them wander away with silent nods and a wink from Koko before placing their own orders and meeting up with the two teens shortly afterwards.

"Excellently handled, Jonah. Very well done." Koko praised him as the two women sat beside the younger pair on a bench a decent ways from the food court. "Are you alright, Rock? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No. I'm fine." Rock was the one holding the cookies, and was munching on one as she spoke.

"Next time that happens, let us know right away, alright?" Koko knew the risks of being a young female in a crowd like that, so when Rock nodded - a whole cookie now in her mouth - she simply smiled at sat back to enjoy her burger.


	4. Chapter 4

In the end of their shopping trip, just as they were walking back to the car, Rock idly let her gaze wander from shop window to shop window, from fashion displays to toy stores... And then she stopped.

Koko and Valmet kept walking, but Jonah only walked a few paces before he stopped and turned to see Rock staring wishfully at a very unexpected shop...

"Koko... Valmet." Jonah turned back to get the attention of the two women, who immediately turned to see Rock had lagged behind to stare at the display of designer glasses. "I'll distract her, can you two buy her a pair of glasses or two?"

"What do you think? Fake glasses would look really cute on her..." Valmet agreed with Jonah's idea to get her what she clearly wanted.

"I'll make sure to get some that she'll love." Koko agreed after a moment of watching Rock's longing expression in the window's reflection, as if she was placing her face in position to be 'wearing' the glasses herself. "Now you get her out of here so we can sneak inside."

"On it." Jonah already had something in mind to get Rock away from the glass... Food. Aside from the cookies, Rock hadn't really eaten yet, so a quick trip back to the food court for something more substantial to eat would easily work. He could tell she was still hungry.

"Rock, we didn't grab any food earlier, you want to come with me to get something to eat?" Jonah approached her just as her own stomach growled and snapped her attention away from the spectacles.

"Yes." With a slight blush on her cheeks, Rock followed him back to the food court, staying close to his side by wrapping her arms around his bicep, a clear sign she didn't feel comfortable being caught by herself in the line again.

"Anything in particular that you want to eat?" Jonah already had a meal in mind that he wanted, he just needed her request before he could place the order.

"Share with you." In a surprising twist, she shook her head, looking so cute as she smiled slightly at him.

So, with that adorable answer, Jonah ordered a serving of haddock and chips, waiting with her on his arm until the order was completed, which he paid for and carried the tray to a table in the middle of the court.

As they ate, as per their style, they didn't really talk much. Rock was too busy eating, while Jonah was just watching her, finding her expression as adorable as ever. She really liked food, that much was obvious... But what did she eat on the other side of that weird portal? Were the laws of physics different there? She wasn't much of a talker, so it was unlikely that she'd ever reveal it either.

Jonah noticed Koko and Valmet approaching a few minutes later, carrying a smaller shopping bag each, but they stopped to signal to him they had four pairs for her. Then, after a quick rock-paper-scissors, Koko - who won - rummaged into the bag on her arm and produced a glasses case with a smile as she and Valmet made their way almost right up to Rock before she suddenly spun around in her seat and caught them approaching.

It only took about three seconds before Rock realized what Koko was holding out for her... and as expected, she snatched it up with her lightning fast reflexes and popped the case open to reveal the first of four pairs of glasses. They were on her face just as quickly, as well as a very cute blush on her face as she looked rather pleased with herself.

"Thank you..." Rock was looking down at her unfinished food, one hand still grasping the open case.

"You're welcome. Now, that looks good, mind if we have a piece so we can all get back to the house?" Koko pointed at the fries and fish, so together the four of them munched on the remnants before all heading back home.

* * *

Back at home, Lehm had the rest of the crew doing marksmanship down at the range when the three women and Jonah returned with pleased smiles on their faces, earning a dry chuckle from the man himself.

"Rock, we'll need to set up a new section of the range for your Cannon, so while we get that sorted out, y'mind doing our guns when we're running practices?" Lehm pinched his unlit smoke between his fingers, not commenting on her new attire, nor her glasses.

"Fine." Rock agreed right away, approaching the table of guns, reaching for the familiar MP5, only to pause at a very unfamiliar one... and immediately snatched it up, earning an amused chuckle from Lehm.

"That's a whole different type of gun than the MP5... That's known as a shotgun."

"I want to try it." Rock didn't even hesitate, turning her head towards the older man with a surprisingly intimidating glare flashing across the lenses of her glasses.

"Heh heh... Alright, Jonah, you're up." Lehm chuckled again, tilting his head for Jonah to teach her, but he spoke up.

"I've never bothered with shotguns."

"But you know how to use them. Teach her that much, at least." Koko smirked. "Rock, that shotgun model is called a Remington M870. It uses 12 gauge ammo, the red box to your right."

Rock's blank expression slowly changed from her stoic mask to a pleased little smile as Jonah finally moved to her side to begin teaching her how to operate the weapon.

* * *

"... Shit." Lutz, like the rest of the crew, were staring in astonishment as Rock, standing at a hair over five feet tall and a mere 100 pounds, didn't even flinch when the weapon kicked back into her small frame. Even more amazing was her skill with the weapon compared to the MP5 the previous day. "I was not expecting that."

"I like shotgun..." Rock lifted the weapon vertically and wrenched the pump to eject her last shell from the chamber, which clattered to the ground slightly ominously. "Now you try Cannon. Only fair, we try each other's weapons." She smirked as she brought the empty shotgun to her shoulder and turned to face the crew. "Jonah first."

"Why me?" Jonah immediately turned towards her with narrowed eyes.

"Because I like you." Rock replied as she placed the empty boomstick on the table and turned on her heel to manifest the ridiculous sized weapon and swinging it over her shoulder like always. "Come here."

Even Lehm was watching in silence as Rock hefted the Cannon into her arms while Jonah slid his hand into the back end, which they could all see had a pistol grip and a trigger hidden beneath the protective guard.

"Now, I let go, you lift." Rock stepped back, ready to release the weapon as Jonah nodded. Then she did just that, and it only barely seemed to descend.

"Fire?" Jonah asked, and she nodded.

With the same short whine as the first display, Jonah fired at one of the targets, his shot precisely blowing the wooden target in half.

"Who's next?" Rock was already amazed that Jonah could do what he just did. Not like the Cannon was very complex...

"Sure, why not? Doesn't look that bad." Lutz shrugged, stepping forward as Rock resumed holding it in position while he and Jonah traded places.

"Ready?" Rock asked, preparing to step away. Lutz nodded, and the moment that she let go, it thudded to the dirt without even a hint of resistance from Lutz's arm. "Not ready..."

"Holy shit that thing is heavy!" Lutz had fallen flat on his face with the falling Cannon, unharmed. "Felt like my arm was about to break!"

"Hmmm..." Koko's eyes narrowed at that comment, her blue gaze flicking to Jonah and Rock briefly, but she said nothing as the crew laughed at Lutz's failure.

* * *

Washington D.C... present time.

The President sat in his chair in the Oval Office, going over some documents when he suddenly detected a sound right in front of his desk. When he looked up, a large sword was lifted in front of his nose, a large black blade several feet in length.

His gaze traveled up the weapon's length, coming to rest on the face of the young girl in her incredibly strange attire.

"You are in the presence of m'lady, you will stand and show her due respect, human." The girl, wearing a large cyan crown around her head and a blue flame fluttering over her left eye snarled down the length of her weapon at the most powerful man in the world, ignorant to his power.

"Oh? And how did you and your Lady get in here in the first place?" The President wasn't a fool, but he held his ground until he could set his eyes upon this other woman that the girl was talking about... Only for the woman herself to speak to the girl in a distinctly regal tone.

"Black Rock Beast, that is enough. Lower your blade."

With a slight scowl, the girl removed her weapon and placed the tip on the floor, holding the weapon vertically, which brought the president's gaze briefly to her other weapon in her other hand, a pistol with parts that bore the same blue as her crown and eye flame... and then he finally laid eyes upon the woman.

"Judging by your tone, this girl is your subordinate, I presume?" The President stood up and adjusted his suit jacket, his jaw set firmly as he regarded the very queen-like woman standing before him.

She had red and blue heterochromatic eyes, and long black hair, much like the girl. But, she wore a black dress with a low neckline to accent her modest bust, and draped over her shoulders was a long cloak that had armoured shoulders, made of supremely polished gold, as if a servant just finished polishing it seconds ago. And, like her subordinate, she was armed, a regal looking mace was resting in the crook of her arm as if it were a royal scepter.

"That is correct, human." The woman replied. "Black Rock Beast, my finest warrior and personal bodyguard. And you, human... are to address me as Black Star Empress, is that understood?" She leveled a lethal glare at the President, who nodded curtly, knowing better than to disobey this clearly otherworldly and very powerful woman.

"Yes, my Empress. How may I be of service to you?"

* * *

Sussex, later that evening.

Rock idly laid on her back on her bed, one leg crossed over the other at the ankles. Lutz and Wiley's cooking for that evening was great, especially after all the training and shopping that she'd done today. So, with a hardy meal in her stomach and a comfortable bed to relax in, Rock's mind wandered. No real destination or links between them, just wandering... Until a very specific face came back to her mind and she bolted right up out of bed, gasping loudly in shock and accidentally knocking her box of spare bullets off her bedside table, causing them to clatter loudly against the hardwood floor.

Rock fell backwards in the same motion, sitting against the side of her bed, her eyes full of tears as she began hyperventilating.

Of all the people to hear her, the last she expected to come barreling through her door was Jonah, his eyes ablaze with worried concern.

Seeing her in the midst of a panic attack, Jonah immediately moved to her side, just wrapping his arms around her shoulders, instincts taking over at this point. Until she was calm, words were useless.

And, after several shuddering gasps for air, she curled her fingers into his shirt and pressed her ear to his chest, his slow, steady heartbeat contrasted drastically to her own thundering, racing pulse... But it was working. After a few minutes, his calm calmed her, and she continued to hold him for several long, silent moments before speaking.

"I saw... my mother."

* * *

"YOU'RE A _WHAT_?!"

Koko was utterly shocked by Rock's sudden announcement. She had both hands to the sides of her head, till reeling from Rock's admittedly short statement.

"I am a princess back home..." Rock repeated her words, but now elaborated on them. "My mother was a tyrant... I ran away before she took over the palace."

"So, wait... Are we supposed to be bowing to you or something?" Lutz, despite his naive question, was confused beyond normal.

"No." Rock shook her head. "Back home, royalty... here, bodyguard." Rock pointed at her feet as she said the final part. "But back home, I don't want to be royal, so I live at big cannon in the Badlands, instead of the palace with my mother."

"So, you exiled yourself to get away from her?" Koko asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Yes."

"Fuck... I need a drink." Koko placed the butt of her hand to her forehead and wandered into the kitchen, returning about two minutes later with a bottle of scotch and a glass with ice cubes in it. She poured herself a modest amount, then took a sip before placing both hands on the edges of the large table, inhaling a steady breath before asking calmly. "Does you mother know where big cannon is?"

"No. She'd have found me ages ago if she knew." Rock shook her head, her lips pursed. "Besides, the Badlands are... really big."

"How big?" Koko challenged.

"The Badlands... are what's left of my world's largest battle. Ever. Only the royal palace is still standing from before the battle, and the city was built from the rubble that was created from what damage the palace sustained." Rock explained, but then added. "It's a wasteland... and big cannon is just a relic from the battle that I happened to choose as my new home."

"So you mentioned that you fight in your world... Back when I first hired you." Koko took another swig of her scotch. "It was to survive in the Badlands, wasn't it?"

"Not exactly. My mother trained me to fight, just like my sisters." Rock slightly shook her head. "That's the fight part. Kill was indeed survival in the Badlands."

"So, little princess, are you still going to remain here as my bodyguard?"

"You ask that sarcastically, even though you already know the answer, Koko." Jonah suddenly spoke up, staring at his boss with a smirk. "She said it herself, she doesn't like her mother. Especially considering that this entire conversation was sparked by her having a panic atack when seeing a vision of the bitch."

"Jonah, don't call Rock's mother a bitch..." Lehm suddenly spoke up, but Rock held up her hand to stop the oldest man.

"Calling my mother a bitch is perhaps the most polite thing you could say. It's fine." Rock turned back to Jonah. "Does this world have any tyrants?"

"More than a few, to be honest." Jonah nodded. "At that's just if you consider the politicians. There's even more if you expand beyond them."

"I hate politics back home..." Rock's face was an adorable pout as she spoke. "Sounds like it's even worse here."


	5. Chapter 5

Monday for the whole crew was spent preparing for the delivery of the upgrade kits for the Belgian air force that Koko had arranged on Friday. Rock mostly spent it watching over Koko alongside Valmet. By afternoon, they were boarding a civilian airline to Brussels while the container of kits was shipped ahead of their arrival.

Rock, not entirely comfortable with the idea of flying, spent the entire flight with her nose in a book that Koko gave to her as a distraction. She was so engrossed in the story that Koko had to take the book from her hands to snap her back to reality.

"You can have this back later, we've got work to do, my little princess." Koko winked and slid the book into her purse, while Rock pouted behind her as they got off the plane and went through security - Rock made sure to remove her choker necklace this time - only for it to go off... again.

"It's her glasses, I think." The guard passed the detector in front of her face, which set it off. "Just a sec, dear, gotta do my job."

With that, the guard completed his search and came up blank, but one last pass over her face set it off again. "Just making sure. Go on through."

Koko was waiting right on the other side, smiling slightly as she hurriedly refastened her choker around her neck an nervously adjusted her glasses further up her nose.

"Now then... We're gonna be here until Thursday morning, I've arranged for our gear to be brought with our luggage, so once we get to the hotel, give them a check, just in case. Alright?" Koko addressed the crew as they regrouped a short ways from security. "For now, let's get our stuff and head out."

* * *

Later, at the hotel, while the crew were checking over their gear, Koko was on the phone to HCLI headquarters, going over some last minute details when her satellite phone went off in her pocket, drawing her attention away from her civilian cellphone.

"I'll have to continue this later, I'll call you for the rest of the information." Koko abruptly cut the HQ line and accepted the sat phone's incoming call. "Koko Heckmatyar speaking."

Rock paused her checking of her Colt's chamber when Koko switched phones, her gaze drawn to her boss' back, wary. Something was wrong.

After several seconds of silence, Koko hung up the sat phone and slowly lowered it to the table she was standing at... then slowly heaved a sigh.

"Customs just seized the container... It was a damn politician's doing." Koko spoke up, which suddenly silenced the clicks and clacks of the various firearms in the room. "Change of plans; product recovery. Jonah, you're with me. Lehm, Valmet, you're on backup. Rock, I need you to stay here on this one, alright? The rest of you, hang tight for now."

"Can I have my book?" Rock lowered her Colt to the table, since Koko's purse was over with her.

"Oh, right. Sure." Koko rummaged in her back to retrieve the novel and slid it across the table. "Alright, you three gear up, we leave in twenty."

As Jonah stood to accompany Koko, Rock reached out to grab his sleeve, which brought Jonah's gaze to hers, neither said a word, but that eye contact - a flash of concern, with a trusting expression - was all that the pair needed before Jonah nodded and she let go. None of the crew noticed that very brief moment.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, or in Rock's case, several chapters... There were sounds of movement from outside the hotel room, like a large group was walking down the hall... And that group suddenly stopped. Right outside _their_ door.

Not even three seconds later, the door was kicked open and soldiers began pouring in, yelling at the crew to surrender. Rock, who'd been laying on her side on the couch, was almost immediately slammed to the ground by not one, not two, but four of the soldiers. Another soldier, to his ignorant stupidity, grabbed her book and threw it aside before shoving the barrel of his MP5 against her temple.

"HQ, this is Bravo, bodyguards are secure." One soldier reported into a radio while the crew were put under guard. "Three are missing, along with the woman herself. We've also secured her daughter too."

After several seconds the soldier glanced back at the girl still pinned under his squad mates. "No sir, she wasn't armed... Understood sir."

With that, the men pinning Rock down manhandled her into a sitting position on the floor.

"Keep them here until we get Heckmatyar to back off from the deal." The leader of the unit ordered his men loudly, and they all chorused 'sir' before taking positions to guard the room.

* * *

For the better part of three hours, the crew and Rock were kept under strict guard by the soldiers, clearly local spec ops, judging by the way they acted and their constant use of Danish rather than English like their initial arrival.

Of course, the entire time they were occupying the room, Rock was getting more and more angry. Koko, she could understand. But this... was bullshit. She was not impressed that the soldiers just barged in, and the fact they threw her book across the room... Now that was just pissing her off.

R and Tojo were closest to her, and they could see that she was seething with suppressed rage. They knew that whatever was about to happen... It was going to be very ugly.

With a snarl, Rock slammed the back of her head into one of the soldier's face, breaking his nose with a spurt of blood escaping his balaclava, thus freeing her arm which immediately slammed into the other man's upper lip, blinding him with tears and simultaneously breaking several of his front teeth.

The other soldiers immediately brought their weapons to bear on her, but she had already manifested her Cannon, which startled them just long enough for her to swing the massive weapon into not one, nor two, but three of them as her fellow bodyguards dove to the floor to avoid getting hit.

The remaining four soldiers that weren't suffering from head or torso fractures all moved to restrain her ridiculous weapon, only for it to disappear with the same blue light, dazzling their vision for a very fateful moment as her foot swung through the lightshow in their eyes to drop two of them in almost half a second. The third was grappled and thrown over her back and rabbit punched right in the face, and the last one - the one that threw her book - was grabbed by the throat and - for obvious reasons - thrown across the room and right through the bathroom door, hitting the tiled wall and crumpling limply in the bathtub itself.

"I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but I don't think now's a good time to be on the floor." Rock commented as she retrieved her book and scowled. Now she had to restart it for the second time. "Koko's in danger, judging by the way that one man was talking."

"We can't get ahold of her right now, she's not answering her phone." Tojo reported as he rose to his feet, his own phone pressed to his ear. "They're not dead, right?"

"No. I'd have used my Blade if that were my intention." Rock reported as she put her book on top of her luggage. "So what do we do then?"

"We wait for Koko's orders, in all honesty. Nothing we can do just yet." Wiley explained. "Now, are you hurt?"

"No." Rock replied flatly. "I'm just annoyed that I have to restart my book again."

* * *

Later, Koko returned with Jonah, Lehm and Valmet, and immediately Rock was thundering into Jonah's arms, checking under his right arm for something, much to the rest of the crew's concern.

"What are you looking for, Rock?" Lehm asked warily, only for her to stick her finger through a hole in his hoodie, edged with a bit of his blood.

"I think a better question is how did you know?" Koko had been driving while Jonah held off the Voshkod 6 soldiers, and hadn't even heard him grunt in pain from getting hit.

"I..." Rock hesitated for a second. "I don't know... I just did."

"Koko..." Lehm spoke up, pinching his smoke between his fingers. "Remember the portal, from the last time we were here? Jonah touched it, and next thing we know, she came flying out. I know this may sound strange, but I think him touching it did something to the two of them."

"Like how Jonah could shoot her Cannon and I couldn't?" Lutz spoke up, remembering the humiliating incident from over the weekend.

"What, like they've... bonded or something?" Koko asked jokingly, but when Rock and Jonah gave her the exact same stare, she realized that Lehm's theory was pretty damn accurate. "So... you two are linked, huh?"

"Even in my world, this can happen. The royal court's mage called it a Lifelink." Rock explained. "I used to have one with someone, but I think coming through the portal replaced it with Jonah."

"So what makes these Lifelink's so special?" Lehm, rather pleased that he was actually correct.

"I'm not a mage, by any means..." Rock replied, only to pause and reword her sentence. "I mean... I may have been royal, but I wasn't really nurtured for my intelligence. I was trained as a warrior."

"What can you tell us? Even the most simplistic explanation can help." Wiley suggested. "You did say you've shared one of these Links before, even direct experience like that is a great source of information."

"It's like... I know where he is, and if he's hurt... and what emotions he's feeling... all the time. And it's the same for him with me..." Rock haltingly explained. "And... from what the royal mage said, with time, Lifelink's can confer even more special connections."

"So... do Lifelink's just... happen randomly?" Koko asked, her eyes narrowed very slightly in thought.

"As far as I know... Yes." Rock replied, nodding slightly. "Mine was just happen sake when I was on my initial escape from the palace, passing them in the street. The two of us escaped the city together."

"Hmmm... That explains how the two of you have been acting back at home, for damn sure." Koko smirked slightly. "And you said it yourself that you like Jonah, so try to get a grasp on your whole Lifelink thing, alright?"

Rock and Jonah both nodded, neither had much more to say anyway.

* * *

The next morning, Koko got a call from HQ while they were still eating breakfast - thanks to some greased palms and a humiliated politician, the spec ops team that Rock beat down was discreetly removed and their previous room was set for immediate repairs - and it was one that immediately wiped her perpetual smile from her face.

She said nothing for the duration of the call, then simply hung up with a chilling calm air about her.

"Problems, boss?" Lehm picked up on it as it was happening, so he simply asked for confirmation rather than details.

"We've got further business to handle. Now's not the time or place." Koko replied at the same low volume before speaking to the crew as a whole. "Something's come up, I'll explain the details after we're done eating."

Jonah and Rock shared a glance, mutually concerned by Koko's unwillingness to discuss it right away.

After breakfast, the crew assembled around a meeting table with Koko at the head, her fingers splayed widely atop the surface.

"HQ sent me intel concerning a convoy of trucks owned by a fellow arms dealer that just arrived here in the city. Ballsy prick thinks he can just waltz into my territory."

"What's the hardware?" Lehm asked, his arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Hind-D's. 15 of them, broken down and hidden in the trucks with spare parts as camouflage." Koko turned her head slightly towards her second-in-command. "C.K Kloshkin is the guy's name. Former intelligence officer turned freelance arms dealer. HQ sent me the guy's military contact, said to get rid of the prick after we veto his contract with the Belgian military."

"So what's the plan, Koko?"

"Tojo, Valmet... You negotiate with National Defence. Lehm, Ugo, Lutz and Mao, tactical backup. Wiley, R, you're on comms with HQ for more intel on Kloshkin. The kids are with me. We move out after I make one call." Koko held up her index finger before reaching for her phone and dialing. After a moment, she simply said. "I have a code orange, give me location and profile information on C.K Kloshkin... Brussels... Yes, send it to me directly." Then she hung up and nodded at Lehm.

"Phone call's done, you have your orders lady, gents and princess." Lehm couldn't help it but tease Rock with a dry chuckle as they all moved to prepare for their tasks.

* * *

In the car, while Koko drove, the trio were quiet. They all had a part to play in this meeting with Kloshkin, with Koko doing most of the talking, of course.

"Rock, give Jonah your Colt. He's gonna be our bodyguard. You'll be my daughter for this operation. Don't fight back if things go badly, alright?"

"You and I don't look much alike." Rock commented as she handed Jonah her pistol, which he slid into the large pocket of his hoodie. His Browning was in his usual right thigh pocket of his cargo shorts.

"Blue eyes, super pale skin, thin build. Rock, to any unsuspecting human, that's more than enough to fool them into belief." Koko explained. "Which reminds me... do you look more like your mother or your father?"

"Mother." Rock replied. "Only one of my sisters didn't take after her in appearance."

"How many sisters do you have?" Koko asked, changing lanes in preparation to get off the highway. Kloshkin was setting up shop in an apartment as his personal residence in the city, and HCLI HQ already provided her with the address and arranged for a meeting.

"Two."

"Are you the youngest, oldest...?" Koko asked, now in street traffic, on an almost direct route to Kloshkin's building.

"Youngest." Rock glanced up to see their progress through the traffic. "How much further?"

"Five, maybe ten minutes." Koko checked the car's GPS to see the remaining time estimate. "Alright, Jonah, just play it cool, don't let him provoke you or anything."

Jonah nodded, knowing better than to let the man get under his skin.

* * *

"... Right, dah. Did you see about cancelling the movers?" Kloshkin asked into his phone, relaxing on his couch with one arm draped over the back.

"Dah, sir."

"Good. Well, in that case, you can go home. Good job today." Kloshkin hung up and pinched his lit cigarette with his fingers, letting out a sigh. He'd been requested to meet with a representative of HCLI, concerning his incoming shipment of Hind-D's, which was due to arrive within an hour and a half. The meeting was in only a few minutes, so he stood up and moved to a nearby kitchenette an started a fresh pot of coffee.

As expected, the representative arrived at the appointed time, but much to his surprise, she had two young teens with her, neither much older than fifteen or sixteen.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kloshkin. I am Koko Heckmatyar, of HCLI, here to discuss the shipment of MI-24D's." Koko presented the man with her business card after he'd opened the door.

"Ah, of course. I've heard of you, Miss Heckmatyar. Forgive the mess, I've just moved here, you see. I'd give you my card as well if I knew which box they were in. Please, come in." The Slavic man stepped to the side to let them inside, noting that the girl resembled the woman herself, save for her black hair. The boy, however, was clearly a child soldier - and Kloshkin could see that the boy had a gun hidden in his hoodie pocket - serving as one of the woman's known bodyguard squad. "Would you like some coffee, Miss? And perhaps a soda for the children?"

"No." Jonah declined immediately, but Rock briefly glanced at Koko, as if to ask for permission.

"Alright, just one, Blake." Koko nodded, her tone quite - genuinely - motherly. "As for myself, a coffee would be excellent. Thank you."

While Kloshkin prepared the beverages, Koko and Rock sat on the couch while Jonah - by his own choice - stood a few steps to the side, his hands tucked into his hoodie pocket.

"Here we are..." Kloshkin placed Koko's coffee on the small coffee table in front of the couch, placing his own beside it, then went back to the kitchenette to retrieve sugar and milk, as well as one of the local brand of soft drink for Rock, who was acting under the guise of her false identity, Blake Roccarto Saunders. All of her documents like her passport and the like were under this name. "Now then, shall we begin?"

"One thing first." Koko held up one finger as Rock reached for the drink can. "Blake... What do you say?" Her gaze went to her daughter, one eyebrow raised pointedly.

"Thank you for the drink, Mr. Kloshkin." Rock lowered her head very slightly, internally noting that Koko was cleverly slipping one of her 'how to be a human' lessons into the meeting. Koko herself had thanked the man for offering coffee, thus she herself had to do the same for her own drink.

"You're welcome, Miss Blake." Kloshkin noticed that the boy's nose was twitching and realized he still had his cigarette in the side of his mouth. "Oh, pardon me, old habits, y'know?" He glanced around of an ashtray for a moment, and put out his smoke since - despite one being an armed soldier - there were children present. "Now then... the choppers, right?"

Koko nodded, her perpetual smile firmly in place as they finally began to talk business.

* * *

For the most part, their conversation went smoothly. Tojo called Koko a few minutes into the meeting, verifying how to proceed on his end, and Koko's reply, "He's taking the bait. Play the anti-aircraft missile card next." seemed to both amuse and annoy Kloshkin as he sent a short text on his own phone when he stood to go refill his own cup of coffee.

"That's quite a tactic, going for a bidding war from the start. You couldn't even spare the common courtesy to a fellow dealer of arms?" Kloshkin joked as he poured a fresh cup's worth into his mug.

"Afraid not." Koko took a sip of hers before continuing. "The way I see it, is a 'grass is always greener on the other side' scenario. You got wind of our latest operation here in the city and thought you'd give it a try. Like a herd of prized cows, you wanted to sneak into the pasture of my success, maybe get away with a cow of your own... But you failed to read the 'Reading this means you're in range to be shot' sign that's nailed to the outside of the fence at regular intervals..."

With that comment, Kloshkin growled in frustration and boldly swung the coffee pot at Koko, who immediately threw out her arm to protect Rock at her side. She took the strike full force, and that was also accompanied by Jonah whipping out Rock's Colt from his hoodie and directing it towards Kloshkin.

" _JONAH!_ " Koko immediately barked out for him to stand down, her tone forceful. He paused, his finger on the trigger relaxing for just a moment, realizing that Koko knew more than she was letting on. Kaloshkin chuckled for a moment as he took the gun from his hand and began purposely racking the slide to empty the magazine, then removed the mag itself and placed the pair on the coffee soaked table, where Koko's and his own cellphone, Rock's drink can, and a few of the eight rounds were all located. The remaining rounds were rolling on the floor.

"I had you pegged as their bodyguard the second you walked in. So be thankful that my snipers in the other building held their fire. Wouldn't want to shoot mommy right in front of the girl... or you for that matter. It's hard on the conscience, I hear." Kloshkin's condescending tone was clearly aggravating Jonah as he just scowled and took a step back. "Now then, I see you've gone all quiet. Can't be that you've realized I anticipated a dirty trick during this meeting? No, that's quite obvious... It's something else." He smirked, but didn't know what it was, admittedly.

"Jonah... pass me my purse, please." Koko spoke up in a very chillingly calm voice, her head and gaze locked directly ahead of herself, ignoring the trail of blood coming from where she'd been hit on the forehead.

Jonah glared at Kloshkin the entire time as he moved to the end of the couch where Koko had placed her bag. He handed it over to her, noting the same, rigidly calm manner that she was acting in.

Rummaging inside, she produced a - much to both Jonah's and Rock's, and even Kloshkin's surprise - a folded handkerchief, turning to Rock, who had coffee dripping from her face and especially her glasses. "Blake, come here so I can clean your face."

Rock knew better than to resist, so she meekly allowed Koko to clean her face, then her glasses before returning them to her and putting the cloth back into her purse, still refusing to acknowledge the trail of blood running down the side of her nose and around her eyebrow.

"Hmph, how touching... A mother before a businesswoman." Kloshkin remarked smartly as his phone beeped. He held it to his ear, speaking in Russian while staring Jonah down, who maintained the same ferocious gaze until Kloshkin switched back to English, tilting his phone down to his neck to address them. "We're done here. You're welcome to leave now. I hope in the future we can work more amiably together..."

With that, Koko laughed slightly. "You really are that stupid. You didn't just ignore the signs on my pasture fence, you also waltzed right in with a ten-foot bullseye covered in strobe lights."

"The fuck are you going on about? Do you want me to signal out the window? I don't think you realized that I've arranged things for this meeting on MY terms. One hand gesture, and it'll be your daughter first, cyka." Kloshkin snarled out the last word of his threat in Russian, which made Koko's eyes glint and a smirk to creep onto her face.

"Has it occurred to you that you're not the only one with a dirty trick planned for this meeting?" Koko laughed again. "Or in my case, several? Go ahead and signal, but here's a thought before you do... Who's the one behind that rifle scope?"

"The fuck are you ranting about?" Kloshkin growled as he held up his fist towards the window and pointed at Rock. "Do svidaniya, cyka."

With barely a tink of the glass being punctured, Kloshkin's hand - the one pointed at Rock - was hit right through the palm, splattering blood across the already coffee drenched table and making him stumble back into the armchair he'd been sitting in for the meeting.

Koko's phone buzzed, and she picked it up to accept the call on speaker phone. "Excellent shooting, Lutz."

"Hey now, I can't have this douche puttin' that image in our heads of shooting our little princess, can I?" Lutz joked over the line, earning a blush from Rock, one that Jonah immediately sensed her feeling of pleased embarrassment. "He's right about one thing though... that shit ain't good for the soul."

Kloshkin was clutching his injured hand, growling in Russian under his breath as he listened to the exchange.

"Now then, Kloshkin... Right now your life is worth a phone call and single piece of paper. Make it quick and maybe... just _maybe_... you'll live long enough to start cleaning up all these coffee spills and blood splatter." Koko withdrew her second cellphone from her purse on her lap as she smirked at her incoming pun. "Your call."

* * *

Tojo kept a casual play-by-play of his report to Koko over the phone, him and Valmet having been meeting with a Belgian Air Force Colonel while Koko went for Kloshkin. "He's just signed it... and it's just left his hands. It's done, the choppers are officially contraband. We'll see you back at the hotel, boss."

Koko smiled as she hung up, her gaze unwavering from Kloshkin's worried face as she stood up an shouldered her purse.

"Now then, you have some tidying up to do, we'll get out of your way." Koko spoke cheekily as she gestured for Jonah to take Rock's unloaded Colt and the empty magazine. "Thank you for the coffee."

"And my drink too, thank you." Rock spoke up as she followed Koko to the door, while Jonah took up the rear.

"Poshel na kuey, cyka." Kloshkin snarled in Russian as they neared the door, making Koko pause and slightly turn her head to the side.

"I shall indeed go fuck myself, Kloshkin. I believe I've earned myself a nice fapping session after all this." She smirked before turning her head back forward. "You can kill him now, make it quick. I want that fap as soon as we get back to the hotel."

"I thought you said he'd get to live for doing what you told him to with that phone call." Jonah spoke up - much to his own surprise - to question Koko. Even Rock - from their Lifelink - could understand the confusion.

"I said he _might_ live..." Koko replied as she opened the door and stepped out into the hall. "I'll be waiting in the car, just make it quick."

"I'll do it. You check her face." Rock vaguely pointed at her own forehead to indicate Koko's injury.

"So your daughter's gonna try to kill me, this should be funny." Kloshkin challenged as the tiny teen girl closed the door behind her mother and the boy guard while staring at her empty soda can in her hand.

"I am thankful for the drink, you know... I just didn't like the flavour." Rock smirked. "And you hurt me too with your little outburst..." Rock's gaze shifted from the can to his face for a split second before she threw the aluminum can straight through his head, causing it to explode in bits of bone and a lot of blood, only to smash into the fridge door behind him as she jauntily walked over to the wide open appliance and helped herself to a can of the other flavour he had inside.

Before she was about to leave, however, she also spotted a shiny red apple in the crisper drawer, the last one in a plastic bag, so she plucked it out and took a bite as she made her way to the door to leave, only to pause and remember her manners.

"Thank you for the drink and the apple, Mr. Kloshkin." She spoke aloud as she closed the door behind her with a cheeky smirk.


	6. Chapter 6

One week after the second trip to Brussels...

"So... I've just gotten a contract for an anti-air missile delivery to the south Russian border, but there's a small problem." Koko spoke up while the crew ate lunch after marksmanship practice all morning. Rock was becoming quite proficient with her guns of choice, the Colt and Remington, but she'd also opted to try one new gun for each practice session. Thus far she'd been using SMG's and assault rifles. Tomorrow, if they weren't on a job, would be her first crack at using an LMG, specifically the M249 S.A.W that the crew often shared between themselves.

"How bad is this problem, Koko?" Lehm asked, looking up from his plate.

"There's a skirmish over an oil pipeline, our client's one of the factions after it, a guy named Pollock." Koko explained, chewing for a moment before she swallowed and elaborated on the issue. "Because of several of the various risks I can foresee, I'm having second thoughts about bringing all ten of you with me for this."

"Strength in numbers not worth the hassle this time around, huh?" Lehm concluded, understanding the risk of a ten-man team going almost directly into a live combat zone. "So what do you propose? Five stay with you, the rest stay here?"

"Admittedly, that's our safest choice. And since I trust all of you, instead of 'pick me, pick me' bullshit, I propose a simple game for who comes with me for the job."

"One thing..." Lutz, surprisingly spoke up. "What if Rock and Jonah are split? What about that Lifelink of theirs? Wouldn't it get fucked up by being so far apart?"

"Rock?" Koko turned to the younger girl, who was in the middle of inhaling her sandwich with gusto. "Does distance affect Lifelink's?"

Rock paused her ravenous eating and put what remained of her sandwich onto her plate before swallowing and taking a moment to consider the question from what little she knew of Lifelink's.

"The Royal Court Mage didn't tell me much, since I wasn't worthy of using magic like my oldest sister. So that's not something I actually know." Rock shrugged.

"And what about the one you shared back home? Remember Wiley's comment about direct experience?" Koko rested her forearms on the edge of the table as she leaned forward slightly. "If you don't mind me asking about it, were you and your... partner? Is that a good word for this? Anyway... were you two always near each other?"

"Yes... and no." Rock bit her lip, slightly hesitating before continuing. "While we were linked, yeah, for the most part we were well within shouting distance, at the very most." She explained, but then she paused again and her fingers curled into clenched fists. "But... um... something happened, and it caused our Lifelink to break. After that, for the short time that we stayed with each other, we only had a skeleton of trust as individuals, rather than - as you put it - partners."

"If I'm making you uncomfortable, please, forgive me. I know nothing about this sort of thing, I have no intention of disrespecting your trust in me." Koko could see that the topic of her previous Lifelink was a sensitive one, so she backed off.

"No, it's just..." Rock looked up at her boss in earnest, but Jonah gently put his hand on her shoulder from her other side, his gaze steady and that was sending soothing calm vibes into her, both physically and from their Link. "Thanks..."

"So, to be safe, you two are staying home for this job." Koko nodded, then stood up from her chair since she was done eating. "The rest of you, come to the living room when you're done so we can deligate the three of you that are staying to keep an eye on those two."

"Hey, Rock, sorry we made you talk about that. It's clearly troubling memories for you, so take your time, you don't need to tell us everything at once." Lutz apologized, since he was the one that sparked the conversation in the first place.

"Thanks Lutz." Rock smiled, nodding slightly as she went back to her sandwich.

* * *

After a small tournament-like slew of coin-tosses, Lehm, Valmet and Lutz were to stay with the kids, while Ugo, R, Tojo, Wiley and Mao were to escort Koko.

Lehm, being the actual squad leader, sighed before he pulled out his pack of smokes and plucked one out with his mouth. "Alright, seeing as I'm staying, I need to decide which of you five will be the team leader on this job. I'm gonna be out front..." He held up his pack of smokes to indicate he'd be smoking. "When I get back, I'll say who I chose. Alright with this, Koko?"

"Sounds fair to me." Koko nodded, then turned to the young pair still seated at the crew's large dining table. "Since you two aren't on this job, I'm going to leave a list of stuff that needs to be done around the house with Valmet. Lehm and Lutz had a couple things I need them to do as well, but I need them specifically, alright? Valmet's in charge of the house while I'm gone."

"Fine by me." Lehm commented as he went to the front entrance to go outside.

"Alright, so what's my assignment?" Lutz asked, eating a handful of grapes.

"I need you to do breakfast cooking everyday while we're on the job, Lehm's on dinner, lunch is Valmet, plus a bit of running around in London, I have a few things written down. Lehm's gonna handle groceries and restocking our ammo for the range."

"And I'm with them." Valmet glanced over to the kids, nodding in understanding at the task. "Alright, so we'll just need those two lists when you've got a chance, Koko."

"Thanks, if that pipeline wasn't such a hotzone we'd be able to spread all these little things out more evenly. But I'm not risking such a high profile escort like that." Koko smiled slightly. "Besides, unless Pollock tries to play me for a fool, that hotzone will just fizzle out by Thursday... Friday, if you want to be generous."

"How do you know?" Jonah asked, drinking a glass of Wiley's homemade iced coffee that was prepared for today's lunch. Rock had milk because Koko had felt a twinge of hesitation with the thought of Rock's small body under the effects of caffeine.

"The pipeline skirmish is like a flash in the pan. Flares up just as quickly as it dies down." Koko explained, pulling a pen out of her blazer's inner pocket and accepting a sheet of paper from Wiley. She continued speaking as she wrote the lists for Valmet and Lutz. "The region's a hotspot right now, any dealer that sees that mess would start drooling at the quick profit potential. But, because of that very fact - the influx of arms and live combat - isn't worth the risk of more than one deal, and even then, this deal is for eight anti-aircraft missiles, it's a satisfactory profit margin, given the situation's short-lived nature."

"Hence your choice to reduce our overall profile in the area." R followed Koko's insight of the job. "So when's our flight?"

"In three hours. We're going to pick up the shipping container as soon as we land, then it's going right onto the truck and we're going straight to Pollock, getting paid and getting the fuck out." Koko concluded her statement with a flourish of her pen, folding the paper in half and tearing along the line, then handed the two halves to Lutz and Valmet. "If Pollock doesn't try anything, we should be back sometime Thursday morning... After six, of course." Koko added the last part with a smile that was non-directional, but she was referring directly to Rock, who liked her sleep undisturbed.

That incident in question was the night they'd returned from Brussels, where Rock hadn't slept - another nightmare kept her up the entire night with Jonah - since the morning before Kloshkin's bullshit. On the drive from London International, she'd passed out in the back seat of one of the crew's SUV's, her glasses hanging about halfway down her nose in a way that Koko snuck another picture of Rock with her phone, and when Koko tried waking her up again, she was met with a very startling display of agility and Rock's otherworldly heritage...

When she was woken up, Rock manifested her Black Blade and had it pressed to the side of Koko's neck so fast that Koko herself was amazed she hadn't been decapitated. But, that wasn't the only thing that she did...

Her left eye lit on fire.

Blue flames, about ten to twelve inches in length flared over her eye, roughly on a thirty degree upward angle, and after only a few seconds of confusion on both of their parts, the situation was defused and the weapon glittered out of existence as the cyan flames sputtered out.

Because of that whole event, Rock was given the rare privilege of sleeping in the next morning, and only came back from dreamland - her first night devoid of her still undetailed nightmares that woke her up at least once a night - when Jonah came into her room with a plate of food around 3pm.

"Alright, I've made up my mind... Wiley's gonna be team leader for the job." Lehm came back inside, nic fix satisfied and his choice clear. "Now then, you five need to gear up, get going."

* * *

Valmet's list mostly encompassed the housework and a few minor repairs, but with only the three of them - Lehm and Lutz had gone into London to do their respective running around - the first day's worth of chores took about four hours. By the time they were finishing up, Lehm arrived with the restock of groceries in the back of the crew's pickup truck meant for tasks just like this. Unlike the sedan and SUV's however, the truck wasn't armoured.

"Alright, let's haul this in and get it all put away." Valmet took the first two bags that Lehm was carrying through the door. "Lehm, you went for your smoke when she said it, Koko said you're on dinner duty until she gets back. I'm on lunch, and Lutz has breakfast."

"Alright, just give me a few minutes to figure out what we'll be having." Lehm nodded in understanding. "Hey, you two... everything's in the truck bed, not the cab." Lehm called over his shoulder at Rock and Jonah when they opened the passenger side door.

"I hear a car..." Rock suddenly perked up, glancing in the direction of the 200 foot long driveway that curved over a slight hill near the far end.

"I don't..." Valmet raised an eyebrow, curious about whether or not Rock's sense of hearing was better than a human's.

"I hear it too." Jonah spoke up, only briefly glancing down the driveway. "It's Lutz."

Lehm chuckled dryly as the front of the crew's sedan crested the short hill of the driveway, with Lutz's forearm visibly resting in the open driver's window. "Lifelink's improving, I see."

* * *

Dinner that evening was much quieter with just over half their usual numbers away. The two kids were quite busy enjoying Lehm's surprisingly hardy spaghetti and meatballs, while the three adults casually debated the benefits of iron sights versus optics for their small arms.

"I'm a fan of EOTech, Aimpoint and Vortex, personally." Lehm, already done eating, was leaning back in his chair with a beer while they talked, and Lutz - though still eating - also had one for himself. Valmet, although in charge of the house, was holding off from alcohol for the moment, but planned to have some of her favourite aquavit after the dinner dishes were at least put into the dishwasher.

"EOTech's are good, for sure. Trained on them all throughout basic." Valmet chimed in. "What'd you train on, Lutz?"

"G36's integrated optic, and the PSG-1 was my initial rifle for my sniping." Lutz shrugged slightly. "Aside from those two, I trained on iron sights, mostly Glock's and MP5's. A cop's basic training is very different than the military, y'know."

"What about you, Rock? You've mentioned you've had formal combat training back home. What was it like?" Lehm suddenly asked, sounding very curious. "If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"My weapons being what they are, I was taught by the Royal Guard's best fighter for my Blade, and my Cannon, because of what it can do, was delegated to defensive techniques and blocking... Unless it's long range combat, then it's just point and shoot." Rock stopped eating to speak. "This may sound surprising, but the form you've seen my Cannon in... that's basically the pistol mode."

Lehm's eyebrows shot up, his expression skeptical. "So, you've got at least a basic understanding of what categories of guns there are in our world... What else can that Cannon of yours turn into?"

Rock held up one finger, about to speak, but then paused, unsure of the unfamiliar word that just came to mind for the first of her Cannon's alternate configurations. "Well... for starters, it can be... a Gatlin Gun."

"A Galtin Gun?" Even Jonah was surprised by that. "Well that's definitely something worth sharing with everyone, not just us. What else?" Lehm sipped his beer as he asked for her to continue.

"It... um... Sniper rifle..." Rock was thinking adorably hard at all her weapon's configurations. "Um... I guess it'd be like an LMG too? Still a machine gun."

"Are they all about the same size as the Cannon's pistol form?" Valmet asked, since they all could tell that the 'pistol' mode was taller than she was by several inches, so the thought of the alternate forms was making some interesting mental imagery.

"The Gatlin Gun's the biggest, machine gun's the smallest. Sniper rifle is about the same size... I think. Haven't used it in a long time."

"Well, when Koko and everyone else get's back, you're doing show and tell for morning practice, alright?" Lehm chuckled as he spoke. "It all shoots the same blue bolts, right?"

"Yeah, they do." Rock nodded, and with that, the conversation died down as they resumed eating.

"One last thing..." Valmet held up one finger to get attention. "Rock, Jonah, you're on dinner clean up for tonight."

Rock gave a hum of affirmation, Jonah - after an amused glance at her vigorous food intake - nodded to Valmet before saying. "I'll show her where everything goes... and clean her face."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, Koko's gonna be back tomorrow morning, Pollock's deal went smoothly, they're just finishing up some last minute repairs on the truck, it'll be fine." Valmet explained after she'd hung up from Koko's call. "Now then... Instead of just laying around for the next six hours, why don't we wander around London? Not like you two have anything else to do."

She was, of course, staring at Rock and Jonah, who were relaxing on the couch. Jonah was eating the last few bites of an apple, while Rock was sitting length wise across the cushions with her feet crossed at the ankle, her back nestled against Jonah's torso as she valiantly kept trying to read her book, despite an infuriating number of interruptions since she'd received it. Every single time, she lost track of her progress and went back to the very beginning. Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, including Jonah, she'd read the first chapter so many times that she had it memorized absolutely perfectly.

"And until we learn more about our Lifelink, you can't stay here." Jonah glanced at the top of Rock's head resting on his collarbone. "So what do you have in mind for us to do in London, Valmet?"

"Well, for starters, we could go check out a bookstore. She's not the only one of us that's a bookworm, y'know." Valmet smiled slightly. "And I know a place we could grab something small to eat."

"And if I say no?" Rock asked, still nose deep in her book.

"I carried you by myself when you were unconscious after arriving through the portal thing. Hint hint." Valmet chuckled as Rock turned her head towards Valmet, a sly challenging expression on her face.

"I am well aware of my small stature, Valmet." Rock challenged. "But I'm a lot stronger than I look."

"Oh, I know." Valmet agreed. "But, I do have a question about back home for you."

"Yes?"

"Since you're royalty back home, would you like to see the British royal family's palace? It's in London." Valmet knew she was playing dirty, but to her surprise, Rock sat upright and swung her legs down to the floor.

"If I say yes... I want one thing while we're in London." Rock knew she couldn't resist this offer. The royal palace of the country she technically resided in was a very interesting idea. "Deal?"

"To be fair, Rock... There are some things I can't let you do, so let's hear it first." Valmet raised an eyebrow, questioning Rock's intention.

"I want to try making dinner today, and there's something in my book that I want to try making." Rock pointed at the open page. "It's called..." She scanned the page to find the name. "Chickpea curry."

"One question... Do you have cooking experience?" Valmet raised both eyebrows now.

"Yes, and given the way it's described in the book, I feel quite confident that making it falls within my cooking capabilities." Rock smirked suddenly. "What? Did you think I was some spoiled brat back home? I wasn't pampered by anyone, I'm not useless, y'know."

"Could've fooled me." Jonah couldn't resist his cheeky comment, making Rock's face turn into an unamused, but adorable pout while Valmet snickered at his excellent timing.

* * *

Later, in London, outside of Buckingham Palace's gates, Rock, Jonah and Valmet arrived just in time to witness the changing of the guards, which had Rock's undivided attention as she watched the rigorously rehearsed sequence of actions that each guardsman performed in sync with one another.

"That was pretty cool." Rock spoke up as the whole show came to a close and the guards - in what she though was the goofiest looking fuzzy helmets - stayed still as stone once more. "Now about that bookstore you mentioned..."

"Let's get going then, Princess." Valmet teased as the trio made their way down the streets with the pedestrian traffic, the two kids following in Valmet's wake since her staggering height allowed her to part the crowds with ease without them losing track of her.

One hour and about 130 British Pounds later, Valmet and Rock were rather pleased with their mutual choices of reading material. Even Jonah got himself a single book with his own money, and on top of that... he bought Rock a pack of bookmarks.

"What are these?" Rock was skeptical about the pack of thin rectangles he was offering her.

"They're called bookmarks. You put them in the book so that you don't lose track of where you've read up to." Jonah smirked as Rock almost immediately snatched them out of his hand with a pleased, triumphant expression. "Let's hold off on that until we get home, alright?"

"Thank you, now I can actually read my book to the end!" Rock knew that Jonah was aware of her annoyance with how often she was interrupted while trying to read her book from Koko. "Speaking of which..."

She reached into her hoodie's pocket and withdrew the book, which was easily able to fit inside along with her Colt, an admittedly large sidearm. She thumbed through the first few chapters until she found what she was looking for. "So yeah, that chickpea curry... I think all we're missing for ingredients is..." She ran her finger down the page, clearly detailing what was in it. "A can of the peas themselves and canned vegetable soup."

"We have the soup, actually." Valmet smiled. "So I guess our last stop is to get that can of peas."

* * *

While they were in the supermarket, Jonah and Rock felt an instinctive shift in their Lifelink, both stopping to share a worried glance with each other. That shift they felt only lasted for a second and a half, but they somehow knew what it was.

They held off from discussing it out in public like that, and only when they were seated in the sedan with Valmet did they finally say something.

"There's someone from your world in the city now, isn't there?" Jonah asked Rock, who was clearly anxious about it.

"Only one person could've done that to our Lifelink..." Rock gulped as Valmet turned around at their commentary.

"I take it something happened with your Link?"

Jonah nodded, but Rock's anxiety seemed to get worse, her breathing coming out in shallow pants before she finally spoke.

"She's my ex-girlfriend... The one I was Lifelinked with, back home."

* * *

Dinner that evening was not Rock's curry. She was too wound up with anxiety to try making it, and - much to everyone's surprise - she barely ate a third of her only plate of food. Of course, Valmet had briefed Lehm and Lutz on what happened, with assistance from Jonah, of course.

Right now, she was doing her absolute best not to panic as she paced back and forth in her room, wringing her hands, clenching her fingers into fists or wiping away tears that stung at the corners of her eyes. Jonah was right by her side, remaining completely calm so that he sent at least some of that energy into her through the Lifelink, even if it was just to prevent any further fluctuation in her emotions.

They needed Koko, that was a fact. And that wasn't even going to happen until the following morning, so the likeliness of Rock getting to sleep tonight was incredibly slim.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Jonah spoke up, which immediately made her turn her head towards him without pausing her nervous pacing. "What's her name?"

"Dead Master." Rock replied, a nervous gulp following those words.

"What's she like? I already know how you two met." Jonah smiled slightly, already feeling that tiny change in her emotions. Getting her to talk about this Dead Master girl was shifting her towards a better state of mind.

"Before or after our Lifelink broke?" Rock knew she was sounding bitter, but she wasn't wrong. It was a pivotal moment for both of them.

"Let's start with before." Jonah already had an idea in mind, subject to Koko's input in the morning, of course.

"When we first met, she was loving, sensitive, and helped me... a lot. She actually... cared." Rock held both of her hands open in front of herself to indicate the emphasis of that word. "After our Lifelink broke, she was... sadistic, and cruel to other people... and difficult to be around. She was irritable all the time too..."

"So how did the Link break?" Jonah asked, knowing that it was a dangerous question to ask if she weren't calming down like this. But, with this context, it didn't shift her emotions back at all, but stayed as they were, and he immediately detected a flash of worry in her eyes.

"She..." Rock gulped. "She hurt me... Almost killed me, in fact."

Jonah immediately felt a ghost of the pain she was remembering, and his gaze fell upon the reminders of that near-fatal wound. "Your scars... They're from her, aren't they?"

Rock nodded. "Same strike..." She placed one hand against her hoodie's flank, where Jonah knew the lower of the two scars resided. "This one's the entry wound... Her weapon's a scythe."

"How did you survive?" Jonah knew that in that fateful moment, their Link had shattered, so anything after that was simply interpersonal feelings, rather than shared with a Lifelink.

"I... don't know." Rock shook her head, letting out a small sigh. "All I know is that she wasn't Linked to me after I woke back up, and she'd changed for the worst. We stayed with each other four more days, then I left her by herself in the middle of the night, and ran off. Went into the Badlands within a week, never left them until I came here."

"She might still harbour ill will to you, and if she does, I will make absolutely sure to keep you safe, alright? I've got your back, if this bitch ever shows her face." Jonah's words immediately won her over, but not in the way that Jonah was expecting. She immediately grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and pulled him in for a fiery kiss. Literally, in fact. Her blue eye fire ignited as well.

When they separated, both a bit flustered, it took them a second longer than usual to realize they weren't alone, both turning in slight shock to see Valmet leaning her shoulder against the door frame, which they knew had been wide open the whole time so that Rock didn't feel stuffy and claustrophobic during her pacing.

"I won't say anything, and I'm not going to tease you like Koko does..." Valmet shook her head slightly. "But, I should let you know she's on the phone right now. She wants to speak to you, Rock."

Rock nodded, still a bit flushed in the face as she adjusted her glasses back up her nose and breezed past Valmet to take the call. Jonah slowly stood up and Valmet held up one finger to ask a question.

"How's she feeling?"

"About her ex, or right now?" Jonah asked, glancing in the direction that he realized he could instinctively sense where she was standing. No doubt she could do the same for him as well.

"I never saw anything." Valmet gave him a reminding stare.

"Her ex is the one that gave her those scars. So she's scared that she'd go for the kill if they ever saw each other. And from what she told me, that bitch is sadistic." Jonah explained. "So we're all at risk, should that ever occur."

Valmet nodded in understanding. "We'll make sure that both of you stay safe until Koko get's back. Then we can try to form some kind of plan, should the bitch show herself."

Downstairs, Rock was, more or less, briefing Koko about Dead Master. Koko - who was waiting for the direct flight to London at the moment - was rightfully worried, but reassured the anxious teenager with a very motherly tone to her voice.

"You'll be alright until we get back. Our flight is scheduled to land at seven fifteen in the morning, so if you do manage to get some sleep tonight, you can sleep in again. Lord knows you deserve it after such a scare. How's your Link with Jonah?" Koko sounded like she had a drink, taking a sip after asking her question.

"I can sense him now... Through walls and if he's behind me." Rock explained slowly, trying to word the feelings into coherent sentences. "And I think we can feel each other's emotions a bit better. He stayed calm, and... shared that calmness with me when I was upstairs."

"I noticed he could do that, yeah." Koko sounded intrigued. "So, one last thing before I hang up."

"Yes?" Rock's eye flame had extinguished when they'd realized Valmet saw their kiss, but she glanced at the house's cordless phone's handpiece that was just barely in her field of view to the side.

"Valmet told me you barely ate dinner, so promise me you'll grab the plate she set aside for you and get some more in you. Alright?" Koko herself could feel the mother-ness in her voice and didn't deny it either.

"Where did she put it?" Rock turned around to lean into the kitchen's doorway, but saw no plate of dinner.

"Either in the fridge or the microwave, if not, ask her. So, you promise to eat it once you find it?" Koko reminded the teen on the other end, smiling slightly.

"I promise."

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning. Eat and try to get some sleep. Take care, Princess."

Koko immediately hung up, knowing that the endearing nickname still made Rock do her adorable pout whenever someone called her by it. Wiley and Mao were smiling at Koko, both thinking the exact same thing.

"For her boss, you almost sound like a mother." Mao, who had a family, unlike the rest of the crew, could almost sense Koko's maternal instincts towards Rock and to a lesser extent, to Jonah as well.

"I know, I just... can't help it." Koko sipped her soft drink for a moment, thinking about how she'd seemingly become Rock's adoptive mother since her initial arrival. "So, if I'm her mother and all... is it right to say I'm worried about her right now?"

"If she isn't eating and can't sleep, that alone is worth worrying about. But by itself, that's nothing. If that crazy ex-girlfriend of hers is what's doing this to her, we shouldn't be sitting her talking about it. We should be on the plane right now to get back to England." Mao explained.

"For the time being, she's... safe." Koko admitted reassuringly, mostly to herself to calm her concerns about the girl. "She's in good hands, and she's safe at home..."

"Now you're the one getting worked up." Wiley smiled slightly. "Let's get aboard the plane so we can get some sleep. Can't have jet-lag with a dangerous ex-girlfriend going after your daughter, y'know?"


	8. Chapter 8

The first thing that Koko saw when she breezed through the front door was Rock laying face down on the couch, one arm hanging off to limply rest her knuckles on the hardwood floors. She also had a blanket placed on her legs and back, which somehow Koko knew was Jonah's doing.

With that, Koko concluded that Rock had passed out on the couch last night sometime after their call, and judging by the half-empty glass of water and a dinner plate with the remnants of a meal, it was clear that Rock had fulfilled her promise to the letter, earning at least some relief for Koko's worry.

With that, the rest of the crew, all having slept on the plane, filed in behind her, taking note of the relieved smile adorning Koko's face while her gaze lingered on the couch.

Valmet came around the kitchen doorway, holding her cup of tea in one hand, heaving a small sigh as she spotted Koko's facial expression.

"Let her sleep, she needs that peace right now." Koko spoke up at that sound, her voice low as to not disturb the girl's slumber. "Let's talk out back."

Valmet nodded, falling into step behind Koko as they went to the back patio to talk, finding Lehm already there with his morning cigarette and a coffee cup in each hand.

"She passed out around nine, maybe nine thirty." Lehm reported, knowing Koko's chief concern right now was about Rock, not about the deal with Pollock. "Jonah gave her that blanket just before he went to bed himself. She finished her dinner, as you could probably tell. We agreed to leave the dishes with her so you'd see that fact for yourself."

"Thank you..." Koko let out a pent up sigh. As promised, Rock was to wake up on her own terms, so Koko then spoke to Lehm while pinching the bridge of her nose. "Pass along the message to everyone else to leave her be. Oh, and have Jonah come speak with me too, please."

"Sure thing." Lehm knew why Koko wanted Rock to be left alone, she wanted Rock in better spirits than last night. He took the last drag of his cigarette and extinguished it in the nearby ashtray he kept on the railing, exhaled the smoke and went inside to fulfill her request.

"So, how'd the deal with Pollock go?" Valmet asked, since as of yet, all was calm of the crazy ex-girlfriend front.

"Other than the truck, things went according to plan. I caught a news bulletin at the London airport reporting the pipeline battle had died down, just like I said it would." Koko, finally able to relax explained how things had turned out on her end, including her chat with Mao and Wiley after talking to Rock on the phone, to which Valmet actually agreed.

"You have kinda been motherly to both of them. Ever since that meeting with Kloshkin, in fact." Valmet sipped her tea as she spoke. "Speaking of which, how's that cut the bastard gave you?"

Koko's hair covered it, but right now she had four stitches in her forehead after Kloshkin smashed the coffee pot over her head. It was patched up, and stopped bleeding ages ago.

"I'm fine for now, I gotta visit the doctor on Wednesday for a check in." Koko replied. "I think we should all go somewhere this weekend, try and clear our heads."

"What about the ex-girlfriend? As far as we know, she's somewhere in London." Valmet asked with a note of concern.

"I have something in mind for that, it's why I want to talk to Jonah." Koko replied, just as the back door slid open, drawing their gazes to see the boy himself stepping through, looking freshly showered with his towel hanging around the back of his neck.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Koko spun around to face Jonah, resting her elbows on the railing behind her. "So, Jonah, I have a couple questions about Rock's ex."

"I have some things to share as well." Jonah nodded slightly. "So what'dya wanna know?"

* * *

"Hmmm... I see." Koko had a fairly good picture of how things were between Rock and this Dead Master girl. "Now then, when you two felt that shift in your Link, is there any possibility you sensed where she happened to come through the portal?"

"I didn't sense it, no..." Jonah shook his head. "But I think Rock did. When it happened, she looked off to the side before we stared at each other. I think she can sense where the portal at least was. We could probably work from there, since Dead Master will probably be unconscious right there, or will have left some sort of trail for us to track her down."

"Let's hope so. Valmet, I'll need you to map out where you three went yesterday, especially the supermarket, since that's our only point of reference right now." Koko turned to Valmet, who was just finishing her tea.

"I'll get right on it. I used the sedan's GPS." Valmet already knew that she'd used the GPS in the sedan to navigate through London, so that would be a cinch to trace their routes.

"Alright, have Tojo help you out with that. Jonah, I need you to try convincing Rock to give us that location when she wakes up. I'm willing to bend my own rules with you two to get that intel... Do or say whatever it takes, alright?"

"You want us to go after Dead Master, don't you?" Jonah could tell that Koko was planning to do this as quickly and covertly as possible.

"It's a possibility right now, but without that location to start us off, she's a lurking danger within London, and I'm not very keen on that fact, for good reason." Koko smiled slightly, patting Jonah on the shoulder. "Just let me know what she wants in exchange for this, alright?"

"I'll see what I can do." Jonah knew he couldn't guarantee a success, but he was certainly going to try.

* * *

When Rock did finally wake up, just past 10:30, she wasn't quite in the right state for questions just yet, still half-asleep and - from not sleeping with a pillow - her neck was clearly painfully sore, so Jonah hung back until she was finished with her morning routine, choosing to dress in her original attire for the day instead of her stockpile of clothes from that first shopping trip.

"Koko's back, she's asked me to do something." Jonah was waiting outside her door when she opened it, one hand adjusting the small padlock on her choker. He chose to ignore the scent of her shampoo that wafted out when she opened the door, since he'd been waiting for her to get dressed after her shower before proceeding with Koko's request.

"And you're telling me this... Why?" Rock wasn't back to full function quite yet, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"She said I have to convince you to tell her something about Dead Master." Jonah replied, choosing his phrasing carefully, but still taking advantage of her grogginess.

"I thought I covered everything when she called?" Rock yawned loudly, covering her mouth with her hand. "What is it that she wants?"

"Where you sensed her portal, when we were in the supermarket." Jonah cut right to the chase. "I saw it in your eyes, you know where it is. And because of that, Koko's willing to pay quite the price for that location information."

Now Rock was awake.

"I..." Rock blinked several times, internally conflicted. Not taking this offer would mean Dead Master would become a hidden danger in London for her, but accepting meant coming face to face with her again, despite whatever reward she asked for.

"She said any price. What do you want so much that you'll let Koko track down - and more than likely capture - your crazy ex?" Jonah could feel her turmoil, but remained neutral. Right now his emotions wouldn't change a damn thing for her if he even bothered to try sending them through their Lifelink.

Rock averted her gaze, thinking about that perspective to the whole scenario. What was worth such a risky encounter? Was there really something she wanted right now that she couldn't obtain? What was Dead Master worth to her?

"Um..." Rock looked back at Jonah, hesitating before continuing. "I know I'm not exactly from here and all..."

"What is it? Something you have in mind?" Jonah could tell she had no idea what it was she was trying to say.

"What's a 'puppy'?" Rock asked, and Jonah knew it was from her book.

"Oh fuck..." Jonah couldn't help but smile at her naive question, even more so because he knew it was genuine. He chuckled slightly. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

When he returned, he had his smartphone in hand, already prepared for what she wanted. "A puppy, is a young dog, a kind of pet or companion creature we humans have kept for thousands of years. Did your book say what kind of puppy it was?"

"A German Shepherd." Rock replied, and Jonah tapped at the phone's keyboard before turning it for her to see the image results. Her eyes widened at the multitude of adorably fuzzy creatures, not at all what she'd expected. "They're different than I envisioned when I was reading... But they're a lot of work too, aren't they?"

"Yeah, you're right. It's not just a once in a while thing, it's a daily responsibility. And it's not like we can just keep it here either since we travel internationally so often."

"So I guess they'll just be a picture in my head..." Rock seemed to accept the fact she wouldn't be able to have a puppy. "I guess I'll just... hang onto that offer from Koko, call it in at a later date."

"So you're saving the reward for later?" Jonah asked to clarify what she meant. "But you are gonna tell us where the portal is, right?"

"Yeah... I am." Rock finally made up her mind. She was going to tell Koko where Dead Master's portal was.

* * *

After the crew geared up and headed for Dead Master's exact location - sans Rock, Jonah and Koko herself - Koko decided that, despite back-pocketing her reward, Rock deserved something for such a difficult descision, so, tactfully heading to another part of London, Koko treated Rock and Jonah to lunch, then together they enjoyed a trip to the city pound so that Rock could see a few puppies for herself, rather than just imagining them in a book. In particular, a Welsh Corgi was her favourite. She just loved the way it moved around how it's triangular ears stayed almost straight up at all times.

"I heard your chat myself, to be completely honest." Koko spoke quietly to Jonah while they took in the rare treat to see Rock so at ease, plus her playing with the Corgi was also very cute to watch. "And you were right about how we can't keep it at home... But that doesn't mean I can't pull some strings for her."

"I don't follow." Jonah raised an eyebrow, both confused and curious.

"I can have documents made that state the dog is a service dog for her. PTSD, y'know?" Koko winked. "While that's being done though, I want you to pick out another puppy with her. See the poster on the right?" Koko indicated one of the many posters on the wall nearby. "It's a trial test, for new owners. Bring a puppy home for one week, to try out the idea of being a pet owner."

"Another one of her 'how to be a human' lessons, isn't it?" Jonah knew about the little challenges that Koko gave to Rock on acting like a human, and she actually did them quite well, despite how subtle Koko was with them. Like thanking Kloshkin for the drink at the beginning of that damned meeting.

"More like what it says on the tin. She's never had a pet like this, so it's back to basics." Koko shook her head at his question. "If she can manage it, she gets the Corgi. If not, then well, we tried. Things just didn't work out, is all."

"Alright, I get it." Jonah nodded in understanding. "But why not the Corgi right away?"

"The training dog is given by the pound. Says so on the poster. After that, if all goes well during their final assessment, you get a discount on the adoption of the dog of your choice. That, of course, would be the Corgi."

"Alright, you go handle them, I'll try to convince her it's a good idea." Jonah replied.

When he approached Rock, she turned towards him with the brightest smile on her face, laughing as the Corgi rolled and flopped around with her, clearly happy as well.

"Koko just showed me something you might want to try." Jonah sat beside her, earning a curious sniffing from the Corgi. "She's going to arrange for a training program that the pound is offering. We'd be given a specific dog, and we take care of it for one week. End of that week, we're evaluated by the people here, and if we pass, we get to choose a dog to adopt."

Rock narrowed her eyes slightly. "So we get a practice dog, we take care of it, and if they think we did, we get our own dog..." She followed thus far, but then realized the underlying nature of this. "It's another one of her 'how to be a human' lessons, isn't it?"

"Actually, no. She admitted it's just for the dog. I asked the same thing when she said it."

"So if we succeed, I can keep him?" Rock indicated the Corgi that was now nuzzling against her stomach.

"That's the plan. Are you ready to give it a try?" Jonah smiled, amazed that the Corgi had such an instantaneous connection with her.

"I'm still gonna treat this as one of her lessons, but I do want him. So yeah, I will, and I _will_ succeed." Rock's eyes glinted with determination, which was accompanied by the Corgi barking once, as if in agreement.


	9. Chapter 9

"Now then, lass, did you have any questions before I go?" The trainer from the pound asked to Rock, who shook her head. She understood all of the instructions and guidelines for the training dog, a young German Shepherd, that she'd been given. "Well then, I wish you, your brother and your mother good luck. I'll be back in one week at noon for the final evaluation."

With a wave, the trainer left, leaving Rock with the kit of supplies that the pound provided. She already had a plan for this, which was to document everything for reference just in case she needed it.

So, with that, she and Hans, the dog - who despite his youth was trained by the pound specifically as a training dog - hurried to set things up for the week.

At the same time, Koko and Jonah were doing some last minute cleaning, as a precaution for Hans. Halfway through their tasks, Koko's phone rang and she quickly answered it upon seeing that the number was Lehm, so she put him on speaker. "Koko speaking."

"We got her. She was out cold when we got there, she's awake now though. And there's a bit of a problem."

"What kind of problem, Lehm?" Koko was wary.

"She isn't speaking English like we thought. Must be their language or something..."

Jonah looked up at that comment, then said. "Lehm, put your phone on speaker too."

"You sure?" Lehm asked, and Koko gave him the affirmation he needed. "Alright, you're up, Jonah."

" _I take it that you can understand me?_ "

" _Finally, someone that makes sense! I take it you are the one they just called 'Jonah'_?" The girl's voice sounded a bit relieved, but still had an annoyed undertone.

" _I am._ " Jonah replied. " _Now, I also happen to know your name as well... Dead Master._ "

" _And how did you come to know my name, dare I ask?_ " Dead Master's tone shifted to wary.

" _I have my sources._ " Jonah replied dismissively. " _Now then... You are to be escorted by the group you are currently with, and when you arrive, I will be the one to receive you. You and I have matters to discuss, and that is not up for negotiation. Have I made myself clear, Dead Master?_ "

" _You have indeed._ " Her reply was curt, as if she didn't like to admit she held very little sway in this whole affair.

" _Good._ " Jonah replied before switching abruptly to English. "It's all clear now, you get her back here ASAP, Lehm."

"I'm not even gonna ask what that was..." Lehm spoke up after disabling speaker. "What about the other half of this whole standoff?"

"We have that covered." Koko replied. "Just get the bitch back here so we can get things sorted with a minimum of bloodshed."

"Copy that, we'll be there as soon as we can." With that, Lehm hung up and Koko immediately turned to Jonah with an expectant stare. "And what, pray tell, was that?"

"That's called Old Speak." Rock's voice came from the hall, followed by the ticking of Hans' claws and her near silent footsteps. She came into view with a raised eyebrow. "As you can tell by the name, it's the language my world used to speak, but now our language is nearly identical to the one you call English."

"And how did Jonah learn it?" Koko's eyes flicked back and forth between the Linked teens.

"I can speak it. I guess he got that from our Lifelink without either of us realizing it." Rock glanced at Jonah, who shrugged. " _I heard most of what you two said, what are you planning to do with her?_ " She started speaking Old Speak to Jonah, to prove she could still do it.

"I'm planning to scare her into submission, at least for a temporary fix until we can get her under control so that she doesn't go for your throat." Jonah replied in English. "And if she tries... she dies. It's that simple."

"One question before you two go bilingual on me again..." Koko held up one finger. "That chick sounded older than both of you... How old is she... and you too, Rock?"

"I'm 15. I've gathered that our worlds at least have the same sense of time. I was born on the first day of spring. As for her..." Rock's gaze trailed to the side for a moment. "She's... she should almost be 17 right now. She's 18 months older than me."

"Hmmm..." Koko's eyes narrowed in thought. "That makes a lot more sense now. Alright, you two go do your thing, I can finish up here." She shoo'd them both away so she could finish cleaning.

* * *

Rock was playing with Hans in the living room when Hans suddenly stopped goofing around and turned his attention towards the front door, only briefly staring before scampering towards the door, barking with excitement to meet the new people - he was, despite his rigorous training, still a very happy and friendly puppy - with his tail wagging back and forth behind him incessantly.

"Hey, Rock, have you seen where I put my coffee cup?" Koko came around the kitchen doorway, and Rock happened to know where it was, so for just a moment, went to help retrieve it.

And in that moment, the front door was opened by Dead Master. Her green gaze immediately went down to the fluffy creature yapping at her feet and she tisked audibly, raising her foot to stomp on what she thought to be some sort of vermin...

With a startled cry catching in her throat, she was suddenly slammed into the wall by a steel grip on her throat, grunting upon impact as the small creature scampered away to hide in another room.

Her gaze went to the side she was attacked from, coming face to face with a silver haired, darker skinned boy with dangerously narrowed scarlet eyes and a scar just under his left eye. He was the one gripping her throat.

" _I'm Jonah._ " He spoke in Old Speak, and she matched the voice from the strange device the older man had used earlier. " _You've just made a dangerous move, I suggest you listen carefully before you regret being able to even breathe._ "

" _I take it that... thing is of value to you?_ " Dead Master glared at him, but with his iron grip on her throat, she had almost no chance of escaping before he at the very least disabled her.

" _Not me specifically. Someone else._ " Jonah replied, then tightened his grip on her neck as he lifted her a few inches off the floor and stepped away from the wall, making her instinctively grip his wrists - with her large skeletal looking gauntlets - in a vain attempt to escape. " _Do you understand the power I have over you?_ "

Dead Master couldn't reply, she was being suffocated with one hand, squirming and kicking her feet in desperation, completely at his mercy.

" _And this isn't even the bad part... In this world, we have weapons and ways to kill you so effectively that nothing solid will be left behind. The fact I'm using my bare hands is a testament to the fact I have a message in doing this._ " Jonah could see the fear in her eyes, her face already turning red and her movements growing weaker by the second. " _I've been told your world's current language resembles what we here call 'English'... Do you speak the new language, or only this one?_ "

Dead Master weakly nodded her head, and Jonah immediately dropped her onto the floor, glaring at her as she coughed and sputtered for air.

"So if you speak it, fucking _speak_ it." Jonah switched back to English in a dangerously chilling tone. It sent a chill up and right back down Dead Master's spine as she looked up at him.

"Yes, I speak your language." She was still recovering from the chokehold, but managed to string the words together. "Are you satisfied?"

"No, I'm not. Get up and follow me." Jonah stepped right over her and back out the front door. " _Now._ " He ordered when she failed to catch on.

Dragging herself to her feet, Dead Master, panting heavily, followed behind him, just out of arm's reach, only for him to spin on his heel and produce an unfamiliar object from nowhere.

Of course, she fell backwards and landed on her backside, staring up at the object in his hand, wary of it's purpose.

"This is one of the weapons I mentioned. Little more than a backup weapon, in the grand scheme of things. There are some with the skill to use it as their primary means of offense..." Jonah's voice was still that dangerously cold tone, and the object in his hand didn't even quiver, which gave away to Dead Master that he was more than skilled with it, like the ones he mentioned use it as their main weapon. "You thought that staying just past my reach kept you safe? You're too naive." He pressed his thumb onto something at his end of the object, causing it to make a menacing clicking sound. "And it's not used to strike you by hand either."

With a loud bang, coupled with Dead Master's panicked scream, a small hole suddenly appeared between her admittedly spread knees, causing a puff of dust to rise up as she watched his lack of reaction. She was right, he did know how to use it.

"From this point forward, if you step out of line and I find out... I will kill you. And I will take my time doing it... and I will it enjoy the whole thing. Do you understand your place in this arrangement? Or do I need to repeat it in Old Speak?" Jonah didn't lower the weapon as she cowered behind her arms.

"I understand! _I understand_! Don't hurt me again! _Please_ , I'm begging you!" She was blubbering in panic, too distraught to realize that someone was approaching behind her.

"I knew you'd understand." Jonah lowered the weapon and looked past her. "So what'd you think of that whole display?"

"C'mere and find out." The last voice that Dead Master expected to hear spoke up and stepped right up to Jonah, kissing him almost immediately for several long seconds while she gawked in shock.

" _YOU_!" Dead Master scrambled to her feet, only for Jonah to direct his weapon at her in mid-kiss. She gasped and took a step back and to the side, but he kept it perfectly directed at her with the entire process, without even opening his eyes from his kiss with... "Black Rock Shooter... You shouldn't even be alive after so long in the Badlands..."

She spat Rock's full name as if it were corrosive bile in her throat. But the raven haired princess gave no reaction. She was too busy expressing her gratitude for what Jonah did for her.

"Mmmmm... You're getting better at this." Rock teased as the finally separated a few moments later, then turned towards the humiliated Otherworlder that was glaring at the weapon still being trained on her with the same hand that had nearly choked her to death just minutes ago. "As for you... You're lucky to even be alive right now. Had we been back home, you'd be on trial for high treason after attacking me like that, you bitch."

"I take it that last word is some sort of insult?" Dead Master sneered. "What I want to know is why a Royal portal brought me here instead of to the Empress, your Royal Court Mage or your oldest sister. Instead I find myself in an entirely different realm and captured by some group of people. Even worse that _you_ are among their ranks!"

"Unlike you, they welcomed me. I have no reasons to cause any of them harm like you clearly do." Rock cocked one eyebrow for a split second in a very taunting fashion. "So I suggest knowing your place... and turning around slowly."

"What are you getting at, you bitch?" Dead Master's attempt at using the unfamiliar insult didn't quite work the way she intended, because a slightly louder and much more intimidating sound than the one from Jonah's backup weapon came from right behind her, making her eyes go wide as she did indeed slowly turn around.

"Welcome, so you must be Dead Master." Koko, with Lehm at her side - borrowing Rock's Remington - both with smirks on their faces.

"Dare I ask who you are?"

"That would be the polite thing to do." Koko had her hands on her hips, but was completely relaxed with her signature cheshire smile firmly in place to make her face that unreadable mask. "I am Koko Heckmatyar, a weapons merchant in this world."

"And what are you to them?" Dead Master scowled, turning her head slightly to indicate Jonah and Black Rock Shooter slightly behind her and off to the side.

"Consider me her adoptive mother. Jonah's my son. This man with the weapon beside me is Lehm, the leader of my team of bodyguards." Koko explained. "You, young lady, have been giving not only myself, but our lovely Princess some most unnecessary physical and mental stress. How do you plan to make amends to her for that?"

"And what about you?" Dead Master noticed Koko's choice of words, but didn't realize it was a trap.

"We'll get to that after you tell us how you intend to pay her back for the anguishes your sudden arrival has inflicted upon her." Koko's smile flickered into a smirk for a moment before returning to that unreadable smile. "Better think fast before I tell Lehm which body part to remove first."

"I don't have anything material." Dead Master stated right away. "And I know nothing of this world..."

"Yeah, but to us you're quite a useful source of information about _your_ world." Lehm suddenly spoke up from behind the shotgun. "So, if I might offer a suggestion... You tell us what you can about whatever we ask... and you get to live under Jonah's strict guidelines. Otherwise he's gonna make a big mess of you while he peels you apart. And I don't mind the cleanup duty, personally."

"If that's what you want..." Dead Master scowled, straightening her back to at least show some semblance of pride.

"One last thing." Koko held up her hand. "That small thing you tried to stomp your foot onto... Try anything like that again and Rock's going to be permitted to do whatever she wants to you. For as long as she wants. Am I clear?"

"Yes, you are." Dead Master scowled, since she could see the small creature peering through the large window of the building behind them. She failed to understand the purpose of such a yammering furry quadraped.


	10. Chapter 10

Six days later...

"I think we traumatized her for real..." Koko joked to Lehm during the crew's usual morning marksmanship practice. Dead Master, who was openly mocked by them all for her obvious hoplophobia, was hiding near the entrance to the firing range, peering around the concrete wall with a set of hearing protection on her head.

"Meh, after all the shit she put Rock through, I think this is fair compensation. Any more than this would be overkill." Lehm replied with a dry chuckle. None of the crew, not even Koko, bothered with hearing protection unless they were using particularly high caliber ammunition, such as Lutz's rifle of choice, the Blaser R93 SLR2 chambered for .338 Lapua Magnum, or the mighty .50 BMG. Dead Master immediately threw it onto her head even when they were using their respective sidearms, none of which were even loud enough to be heard from the house on on the property's main hill. Not even Ugo's .50 A.E Desert Eagle was audible at that range.

"True... but the damn 'muffs look so goofy on her head." Koko smiled at how Dead Master visibly flinched with each and every shot.

"Think we could scare her into using a .22?" Lehm suggested with a smirk as he lit a cigarette and politely took a few steps to the side. He blew out the lungful of smoke as Koko chuckled at his idea.

"I'll place an express delivery after practice for a suppressed Ruger Type 2, just for her." Koko suddenly turned her head towards Dead Master and locked eyes with her, curtly curling her index finger twice to signal that she was being summoned.

Dead Master quickly approached and meekly stared at Koko's smirking face.

"Take them off." Koko ordered flatly, her tone making it clear that it wasn't up for debate.

Dead Master visibly hesitated, but obeyed just as the last of the crew's gunshots finished echoing before they moved to reload.

"Now that you don't look completely stupid..." Koko stood up from the folding chair she was sitting on. "From now on, you are not allow to use these unless the rest of us are using them." She took the hearing protection away with one hand, the other behind her back giving Lehm subtle hand signals to hand over his H&K Mk.23 with his usual suppressor. "I sell weapons all over the world, and unfortunately, that means I have enemies that happen to use their own weapons to try and kill me. All these people here, including Jonah and Rock, are paid to protect me while I do my business."

"I've gathered at least that much of an understanding, Koko." Dead Master had only just recently earned the privilege of calling everyone by their preferred names, save for calling Rock by her full name. She was ordered by not only her, but by Jonah - whom she legitimately feared - and by Koko - the true leader of the group - to always call Rock by her former Royal titles, such as Princess, my Lady, and Your Highness, among others, of course. Failure to do so at any given time, was to be handled by Jonah - Rock's order - but thankfully she hadn't failed... Yet.

"So that means you need to at least know how to use one." Koko smirked as Lehm approached the table to flick some ashes off his smoke into the ashtray he'd brought with him. At the same time, he smoothly handed off his suppressed sidearm without Dead Master even noticing.

Dead Master gulped loudly. Although she didn't have the word - Hoplophobia - for what she felt towards their weapons, she knew this was going to be a painful experience. "I..."

"We have a word here for what you're experiencing." Koko stood up a bit straighter as she revealed what she had in her hand, making Dead Master flinch slightly. "It's called Hoplophobia. Firearms, otherwise known as guns..." She vaguely lifted the gun in her hand to indicate it. "Are what terrify you so much. Rightfully so, considering what Jonah did to put you in line. But, as daunting as the idea might sound, I want you to respect them. They are used to hurt and kill others, but sometimes, even for a casual day at the range, they can actually be an enjoyable experience. See that long one that Rock's holding?" She pointed her free hand at the resident royalty, who was in the process of loading shotgun shells into her ammo belt - unlike the rest of the crew's bandolier's on their stomachs, she had a belt with shell dispensers and a waistpack on her lower back for her gear and a canteen - at the other table, not even listening to their chat.

"I do, yes." Dead Master idly recalled that it was the one that Lehm had been pointing at her during her initial conversation with Koko on her first day.

"That type of weapon is known as a shotgun. The specific model of the weapon is called a Remington M870. I can explain things in further detail this afternoon, but for now... you're going to be using this." Koko took Dead Master's wrist and tapped the black skeletal gauntlets with her index finger of her gripping hand. "So off with the claws, the Princess is going to teach you."

That keyword caught Rock's attention, turning her head at the nickname's usage. "Pardon, Koko?"

"C'mere and show her how the bare bones." Koko casually held up Lehm's gun to show that it was what she'd be using. "Everyone, cease fire! It's time for a little show."

Everyone quickly lowered their weapons and clicked safety's into place before backing up to watch Dead Master - her gauntlets now placed on the table beside Lehm's ashtray - being presented with Lehm's gun and one spare magazine before Rock - and Jonah standing by her side - began to teach Dead Master the basics of a sidearm's usage.

"Hmph, lucky you..." Jonah commented quietly, in English. "You get the privilege of Lehm's suppressor."

"What? This thing?" Rock admittedly hadn't seen the object in use before, but surmised that it reduced the noise of the weapon's blast, given the name. "Huh. Cool." She briefly made a mental note to check with Koko about the possibility of shotgun's having one. "Anyway, so I know you're intelligent, so watch carefully, because if you're a dumbass with a weapon, you're gonna get hurt." She was of course tempted by the thought, but said nothing more as she taught the older teen what did what and where to hold the gun.

With visible unsteadiness, her tutorial complete, Dead Master was directed by a casual tilt of Rock's head to start firing at the unused target.

"Hey Lehm, it's got thirteen, right?" Rock checked over her shoulder to the older man, and he nodded. "Alright, so unless you can't count, you can only do this thirteen times before we move on to teaching you how to reload. Which is why I'm still holding this." Rock indicated the spare mag in her hand. "So try to hit the target at least once."

With that, Rock and Jonah took a step back as Dead Master gulped one last time before taking aim and pulled the trigger, expecting a huge blast, only for it to make much less noise than she'd expected when it jumped back and upwards.

Looking over the weapon for a moment, she realized she'd hit the target in about the collarbone area, amazed she'd even done it.

"Twelve more. Keep going." Rock reminded her, and she snapped back to focus on her task.

Once finished and the slide stayed locked back, Rock marched past Dead Master - with the same finger curl gesture as Koko from earlier for the older teen to follow her directed over her shoulder as she passed - and began evaluating the placement of her shots from about thirty feet.

"See these ones?" Rock pointed at some of the outer holes in the humanoid torso shaped board of wood. "They'd have only wounded the person. But these two here... that'd be a kill. Heart shot and your only headshot. Huh. Practice enough and maybe I'd be impressed." Rock smirked at the callused comment, but stepped back to where she'd made Dead Master originally shoot from. "Now that the weapon's empty, you need to learn how to reload. Come here so I can show you."

Dead Master backed up to her side and watched with rapt attention at the process of reloading the gun in her hand. After witnessing Rock use her own - very different, but quite similar - gun as an example, Rock handed over the spare mag for Lehm's gun and said. "I won't make you do anything complex, just repeat the reload a few times until it makes sense. Then shoot the whole magazine at the same target. Oh yeah... take note of the weight difference when it's loaded or not. Might actually save your life to know if it's got anything in it or not."

With that, Rock's tutorial was complete and she backed off to watch Dead Master's first few fumbling attempts at reloading the magazines, alternating back and forth between the loaded one and the empty one. Finally, after making sure to load the full one, Dead Master racked the slide back into place and with only a slight increase to her confidence, carefully fired the thirteen rounds at the target, still rough placements, but for what it was worth, she hadn't missed a single shot on her first nor her second magazine.

"Hmph, good enough." Rock held out her hand for Lehm's gun and the empty mag. "You're not as bad as I expected."

* * *

Shortly after they'd finished practicing, while everyone was just sitting down to eat, Rock was just about to whistle for Hans in the living room when she realized he was waiting at the front door, a sign that someone was coming.

With an excited bark, Hans sat near the base of the staircase, his tail waving back and forth as Rock heard a car door closing. She moved to answer it and was met by the trainer from the pound, a warm smile upon their face at the sight of Hans' restrained excitement just behind the bespectacled teen.

"Hello there, lass, seems we're right on time." The trainer greeted her. "So, what was it like? I hope Hans wasn't too much of a responsibility."

"I really enjoyed taking care of him, it's way better than just reading about owning a puppy in all my books. I... really learned a lot from this."

"That's most excellent. Now, I did recall you'd intended to write down how things went? Or was that more so a schedule of sorts to assist yourself?"

"It was that, yeah. Make myself a routine, make sure to keep him fed, full water bowl, y'know, everything." Rock was actually proud that she'd managed to keep up with Hans so easily. Of course, she wasn't foolish. He was trained especially for first-time owners like herself, so she doubted that taking care of the Corgi she'd fallen in love with would be quite as easy.

"Brilliant!" The trainer was very pleased. "Now, if you could be a dear and fetch his leash and your mother, I can say you've done an excellent job with Hans."

"Right here." Koko had caught the sounds of their chat, so she'd come from the bustling kitchen with Hans' leach in her hands. "Now, Blake, you go grab some food, unless she's still needed, of course." Koko turned to the trainer, who shook their head, allowing the teen to kneel to say her goodbye to the training dog - earning a very pleased slew of licking on her cheeks in the process - before she and the pup parted ways, leaving only a set of documents in Koko's hands and a few lingering bits of dog hair.

"Now then... Once you're done eating, you, Jonah and I are going to the pound to pick up the dog you really had your sights set on, that adorable Welsh Corgi." Koko smiled knowingly as Rock's face went from shocked to excited in less than half a second.

" _So that one was just for practice?_ " Dead Master commented under her breath in Old Speak. She was still unclear on the whole idea of the creature even being present, let alone the fact it was being replaced like that.

" _Yes, it was._ " Jonah didn't even look up from his plate when he spoke in Old Speak. " _Same rules apply for Rock's Corgi. If you hurt it, you're dead._ "

* * *

Later, after things were all sorted, signed and purchased, Rock and her female Corgi - whom she'd named Roxy - were absolutely brimming with happiness. Interestingly, Roxy's cage at the pound had been right near where Hans' was, so she had made very little fuss about Hans' lingering scent around the house as she sniffed and explored her new home's every nook and cranny.

Rock was right by her side the entire time, enjoying every second of it. Of course, everyone else was pleased too, especially Valmet, who thought Roxy was much cuter than what Rock had described.

That evening, after dinner was cleaned and dealt with, Rock, Jonah and Roxy wandered upstairs to sleep. With Dead Master's arrival, the house no longer had any spare rooms, but Rock in a surprising twist, gave up her room entirely - save for her clothes, books and various possessions - to instead sleep with Jonah in his room, since in all honesty, she'd spent more time in his bed than her own. The change was completed within two hours, having moved her things with the assistance of their clearly shared enhanced strength and fluid teamwork.

So, after they'd gotten ready for bed and climbed under the blankets, Roxy - with a wisely placed wooden step stool - quickly joined them, curling up against Rock's torso while Jonah laid behind her, gently kissing the back of her neck before they finally went to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Dubai, later that week.

"Still having some trouble?" Koko peered over Jonah's shoulder while she tied her usual blue necktie without looking. He nodded, scowling at the math textbook he was steadily working through whenever he got the time to focus on it. Right now, he was dealing with B.E.D.M.A.S equations, and they were a lot more difficult than he'd expected. "Just take it slow, no need to rush it, remember? How're you doing in your science? Same deal?"

"No, I'm doing pretty good for that. 'cept for some of the names, Biology's pretty straightforward." Jonah pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked a few times. Considering his lack of a formal education - a trait he actually shared with Koko, apparently - the fact he'd managed to get through so much of his studies, admittedly at his own pace, was still an accomplishment. His specialty was languages, but he hated math. A lot.

"And you?" Koko finished with her tie and straightened it as she turned to Rock, who was likewise beginning at least a shadow of a human education. Interestingly, she had what Koko did admit was some formal education, from her tutor at the palace back home, but after Dead Master - who was asleep on the nearby couch - revealed the length of time that Rock was in the Badlands, three years, it gave Koko a reason for her to at least get started on the same approach to learning.

"Optics and light." Rock was working on science, her hair tied back into a single pony tail compared to her usual twin pigtails, leaning her chair onto the rear legs with her calf on the edge of the table, supporting her weight. On her raised thigh was her notebook, and on the last chair was her textbook, leaving her with one hand to absent-mindedly stroke Roxy's back since she took up the last available bit of space there was, which was right in Rock's lap, curled up and fast asleep.

"You both seem pretty good with languages as is, but that leads me to wonder how good her education is..." Koko glanced at Dead Master, who was non-responsive. That girl could sleep, for damn sure.

"She was studying formally, as well as to be a necromancer, when we were together..." Rock commented. "Makes sense that she'd continue with her necromancy, at the very least, after we went our separate ways."

"Necromancy?" Koko raised an eyebrow.

"Our world has magic." Rock glanced up at Koko when she heard the skeptical tone in her voice. "Here on Earth, there's none. I can tell by the way that things are done."

"But I do recall you said you weren't worthy of magic... How do you know there isn't any?"

"I meant how society operates. If I could sense it, I'd have said so. I was taught to fight, not to do magic. Ask her, it's more her department." Rock indicated the resident necro-chick with her thumb aimed over her shoulder before continuing to pet her Corgi.

"Not right now, I have a meeting I need to attend for a possible contract. You two try to do a bit more homework before you go anywhere. Tojo and R said they're sticking around here, so call them if something comes up while you're in the city." Koko turned to leave, but then paused. "Oh, almost forgot... You both have your phones on you, right?"

"Mine's in my bag." Jonah's gaze flicked to his backpack laying on the floor beside his chair.

"And yours, Princess?" Koko knew Rock had it, she'd been using it before she started her homework, but Koko hadn't seen it since.

"It's right here." Rock reached down the neck of her hoodie and seemed to reach under her arm before producing her new phone.

"Now I know you're not very much in the chest area..." Koko was actually intrigued about how, let alone where, Rock kept her phone like that. She knew her hoodies all had just the external pockets.

"In my bra, right here." Rock held the device to the side of her ribs, showing where it was hidden, like a shoulder holster if it were a gun.

"Interesting tactic. Anyway, I'll be with Valmet during the meeting, then her and I are going shopping for a bit, we should be done around 3, maybe 3:30 at the latest. Try to back by then." Koko gave them a nod before turning to the door, finally on the move. "Take care, you two."

"Bye!" They chorused at the same time, still working.

* * *

With mutual sighs, Rock and Jonah both decided to stop studying and head into the city for a while. So they packed their academic materials into Jonah's backpack - which also had two MP5k's - with extra ammo - inside, in case of an emergency. They both also had their pistols, like the rest of the crew, including Dead Master with her Ruger Type 2.

"Alright, c'mon Roxy." Rock nudged her with her hand, waking up the sleeping Corgi - she yawned adorably before slowly opening her eyes - and carefully lifting her off her lap. "C'mon, let's get you some food."

Upon hearing the F word, Roxy perked up with excitement, quickly following Rock to the kitchenette where they'd let her kibble and bowl. Rock made quick work of preparing Roxy's food, and with a quick 'sit!' she was munching away while the two teens left the hotel room, passing Ugo and Lutz in the hall, doing their assigned patrol of the hotel floor.

"Not bringing Roxy today?" Lutz asked as they passed.

"No, not today. It's way too hot out for her right now." Rock replied, since every other day they'd been here in Dubai - a mixed vacation/business trip for Koko - but today was a particularly hot one, and Rock knew to keep her inside with the air conditioning.

"Bummer. Anyway, have fun." Lutz waved them off before catching up with Ugo a few paces away.

Wandering around Dubai in a local heat wave - which was saying something since the city was in a desert region - without something to keep cool was a foolish idea, so the moment the pair stepped out the hotel's front doors, they went straight to an ice cream parlour across the street.

Now armed with their treats to beat the heat, Rock and Jonah wandered around the area, checking out shops along the way. Rock had quite a fun time, despite not purchasing anything the entire outing. But, along the way to an outdoor mall, they both spotted an unusual pair walking through the crowds; a man in a red Hawaiian shirt with narrow sunglasses, and a younger girl in a cowboy hat and school uniform. Both had dufflebags slung over their shoulders, and - thanks to their enhanced hearing - were able to eavesdrop through the bustling activity of the market streets.

"Chinatsu, for the love of god, why do you keep looking down at the ground like that?" The man asked, very annoyed. "And that fuckin' hat's blocking your line of sight. How do you expect to locate a target when you can't even see five feet ahead of yourself?"

"You look up while you walk, I look down, that way I know we're both safe." The girl replied.

"What, are you checking for landmines? You're not bomb squad, you're an assassin. Besides, our intel on the target guaranteed this'll be an easy job. She's only got one of her team of bodyguards with her today, and that bodyguard's only got one fuckin' eye!"

Rock and Jonah shared a concerned glance, but said nothing. They needed more to go on and prayed this wasn't a coincidence.

"Yeah, an ex-FRDF Major, bitch was discharged after she lost her eye. I read the profiles for the whole damn team. That Koko chick's got some serious muscle... But that boy she's got is hella cute though, the one with the silver hair and red eyes."

"Shit." Jonah immediately went for his phone and started texting Koko. "We just found two assassins in the markets, we heard them talking to each other about a target, and the target is you, Koko. What do you want us to do?"

Thirty seconds later, Jonah's phone rang to signal a call, and he quickly picked up. Of course, it was her.

"If you have the chance, take it. But if things start to shift, I want you both out of there as fast as you can, is that clear?"

"Alright, I got it." Jonah replied, then hung up. "She wants us to go for it if we see an opening. But if it starts turning bad, we run." Jonah explained to Rock, who nodded as she finished the last of her ice cream, chomping on the cone loudly.

"So let's keep tailing them. There's bound to be an opportunity at some point. We just need to make sure they don't get to Koko."

With that, the two teens kept following the strange assassin pair to the outdoor mall that Koko intended to shop at after her meeting. The two assassins sat at an umbrella'd table and produced water bottles and cellphones, clearly waiting until Koko arrived. Rock and Jonah, on the other hand, split up to go for a pincer attack, both already having clicked their pistol safety's off in their pockets.

Rock watched the girl in particular, since her commentary during the walk eluded to her interest in Jonah, and Rock didn't like that, internally becoming very territorial of Jonah. She honed her hearing in on the girl, but neither of the assassins were speaking anymore, just using their phones and drinking water.

'I already have one bitch to deal with, now her?' Rock thought to herself as she drew closer, sensing that Jonah was doing the same. But before either of them could make a move, the girl suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Rock.

It only took a second and a half for them both to pull out their guns and fire a shot, but neither struck home as the man caught on and knocked the table over for cover. "Look, it's the bitch's daughter! Light 'er up Chinatsu!" He pulled out his own pistol and started firing with a sadistic peel of laughter.

Rock was already behind a concrete pillar by the time they'd started firing. She knew Jonah was almost in position, so she checked to either side to gauge which flanking pillar was a better place to draw their fire and to get clear of Jonah's line of fire. Left.

So with a burst of speed, she avoided all the bullets the two killers tried to hit her with, already flattening her back to the pillar with her Colt held in both hands down low. " _JONAH! NOW!_ " She yelled to him in Old Speak so the killers didn't understand the callout.

At that moment, the girl assassin spun around, coming face to face with the barrel of an MP5k, diving into her male counterpart as Jonah let out a short burst from the PDW while making his way to Rock to get hers to her. He kept peppering their patch of cover behind a brick garden as he crouched by Rock's pillar with his backpack left open. She immediately snatched up the other gun and three mags before clicking the safety and moving back to her original pillar to get the two killers from a better angle.

"Fucking bitch! Where's your mommy at?!" The man snarled when Rock's rounds forced his head back down when he tried to peek out. "Chinatsu, grab the bags! I'll cover you."

Rock pulled her Colt out of her pocket and shot right by the girl's head, putting a neat hole through her stupid looking hat to remind her about the consequences of such an action. At the same time, the man was being peppered by both of the German SMG's, preventing him from acting upon his intended plan.

"Fuckin' shit!" Try as he might, the girl in particular had them pinned down, and they all could hear police sirens approaching, so they had to hurry things along before shit got worse. "This wasn't an easy job after all... damn informant didn't say shit that the kids were part of her fucking bodyguard squad too!"

"She's the bigger problem, the boy's just covering her." Chinatsu was evaluating the situation to form a plan. "So if we go for him first, then she'll be easier to handle."

"Good point." The man agreed, then boldly stuck his gun hand over the chipped and broken brickwork to blindly fire at the boy, hearing a small grunt of pain and a thud as the bursts of gunfire immediately stopped. That, of course, signaled a direct hit of some kind. "I got him! Get the bags!"

They had no idea how fateful of a mistake that was.


	12. Chapter 12

Chinatsu dove for their duffel bags, unopposed in the seven seconds to get there and back to her partner, Maestro, was his name to her.

Wasting no time in producing their AK-74's with grins on their face, they both spun around to where the arms dealer's daughter had been hiding, ready to fire...

But she wasn't there.

Chinatsu immediately redirected her Russian assault rifle to each and every patch of possible cover the bitch could've reached in such a short time, but she wasn't there. Or there. Or _there_!

"She didn't run... She's just not where she should be." Chinatsu's razor sharp instincts were on alert. The girl was close.

"Then we kill the other one and draw her out." Maestro directed his AK to the wounded boy's pillar, only to realize at the last second the arms dealer's daughter was standing where the boy had been. "I got you now, runt!"

In an instant she flickered out of sight, making Maestro's eyes widen behind his shades before the girl's hair fluttered in an eerie gentleness against his forearm before she attacked.

With one hand knocking the magazine out of his gun, the other gripped his left wrist on the foregrip, acrobatically doing a drilling kick almost straight upwards from her initial crouch, going right in the gap between his arms and the gun.

Time seemed to slow as Maestro took the kick, her rapid spinning form, with her arms held close to her body, was slowed so that he and the girl's eyes met for a nanosecond in real time... and he realized that her eyes were purple with an inner fire that sent a chill up his spine before time resumed and she launched upwards and grabbed an overhead horizontal flagpole with one hand, using the momentum to swing herself around to go for her next target... Chinatsu.

Chinatsu already had begun moving by the time Maestro's AK magazine clattered to the ground, but by then, the girl was already flying towards her.

But her aim seemed to have been off, because she landed into a handspring three feet short, giving Chinatsu a split second to aim at the girl before she could use that handspring to move...

But she seriously miscalculated this girl's agility, because the next thing she knew, her head was being clenched quite intimately right between this girl's thighs with excrutiating strength as her whole body was flipped over to land on the concrete, breaking her nose in the process.

Her AK went out of her hands in that motion, but even before she'd looked up she heard the faint clack of the girl catching it. Only one thing would follow such an action, and Chinatsu was still too dazed from the rather unorthodox suplex to react in time.

30 rounds of 7.62x39mm turned her modest broken nose into a bloody pulp and then some in about 11 seconds. After the Russian rifle was empty, it was promptly dropped and attention was directed to the real guilty party in Rock's madness-tinted gaze.

Maestro had been stunned by the girl's murder of Chinatsu, unable to muster any resistance at the insane teenager produced a black sword out of a flicker of blue light and began to stab him in the chest, with the blade in an icepick grip, covered in both his and the remnants of Chinatsu's blood in seconds.

Behind Rock, Jonah slowly clambered to his feet, using the pillar for support. He'd taken a shot like that before, in the collarbone area of his shoulder, but this time... He was on his feet again while still in the field. Last time took two days in a hospital. Clearly his Lifelink with Rock was doing a lot more to them both than it seemed...

He knew right away that something was very wrong with Rock, her emotions in their Lifelink were a chaotic mess, all negative, save for the occasional flash of amusement. That lead him to follow her exact location on the other side of the pillar with his eyes. She was repeatedly stabbing something with her Black Blade.

"Rock, enough! We need to go!" Jonah put one hand over the entry wound, already aware he had an exit one as well by the blood on the pillar behind him. His voice almost immediately caught her attention, and she froze, her purple eyes widening with shock as her Black Blade shook in her grip before vanishing in her usual blue light as she sprinted into him and hugged around his ribs, since he was several inches taller than she was. "I'm alright, but we need to go, now!"

She didn't let go, but Jonah spoke in a gentle voice. "I'm alright. We need to get back to Koko before things get worse than they already are. The police have this place surrounded, we have to get help."

"But..." Rock's eyes smoothly transitioned back to blue as she fought back tears. "I thought..."

"I passed out from shock." Jonah didn't know how he knew that fact, but he did. "We need to play victims now, so we can get past the police outside. C'mon, follow my lead."

Jonah went to grab his backpack, handing it to her. Even if it was searched, they'd used up all the MP5k ammo and the guns were laying abandoned near the corpses of the assassins. Wasn't hard to piece together." She donned the bag and 'helped' Jonah out of the mall.

Upon seeing the two teens covered in blood and one sporting a gunshot wound, the police didn't bother with the idea they'd caused anything. They had an ambulance already on site, which whisked them away to the nearest hospital to patch the boy up.

* * *

"Yes, thank you Officer, I'm grateful for your quick actions to help my son." Koko bowed deeply as the officer that had secured them in the ambulance explained everything that had occurred in the mall to the - genuinely - distraught businesswoman that came blazing into the hospital in an emotional hurricane. He'd expertly dissuaded her fears and with the doctor's additional explanation, put her at ease.

"We got their statements too. The two corpses we found are hitmen, must've been after each other. They were both shot to hell with AK's and SMG's, your son took a stray bullet in the fighting. Luckily they took each other out before things got worse."

Koko nodded, unable to speak in case she started to lose her composure again. If it were the adults in her crew, she'd be concerned, yeah... but these two were just children, her children technically, so to act as reasonably as she had, that was quite an achievement. She did want to speak to them about their methods though... She'd seriously misunderstood how they were going to handle her instructions over the phone.

"You're welcome to go inside, I've got to deliver the reports to the station." The officer nodded respectfully as he turned to walk away, leaving Koko to immediately enter the hospital room and close the door behind herself.

"I take it they saw you before you could get the jump on them?" Koko knew Jonah wouldn't have made such a blunder willingly.

"The girl's reflexes were pretty good for a human." Rock commented from the chair in the corner. "She was the really dangerous one of the pair, definitely the brains too."

"Which one shot you, Jonah?" Koko asked, noticing that he was patched up rather mildly compared to what she expected.

"The man." Jonah replied. "Blind fired over some cover and got lucky."

"And I take it you killed them while he was down?" Koko knew Rock hadn't sat idle. She had more blood on her than Jonah did... and none of it was hers.

"I did." Rock briefly glanced to the side, as if there was something else on her mind about the kills.

"Something you want to tell me?" Koko knew that look well enough.

"I don't have enough information right now... I will when I can. Deal?" Rock looked Koko straight in the face as she said that, her gaze unwavering.

"Alright, I can respect that. Right now, since Jonah's stable, we're heading back to England. My contract here isn't for two weeks anyway." Koko checked her watch and spun on her heel to exit the room. "Hop to, we have a plane home to catch."

* * *

At the airport, Rock held Roxy in her arms while they waited to pass through security. Just like in England for their initial flight here, she had Roxy on a secure grip while her other hand carried the documents that declared her a service dog for PTSD, a condition, Koko had explained, was brought upon by nearly being killed by Dead Master's scythe. She had the scars, both literally and figuratively, so why not take advantage of it?

"Excuse me, miss? I'm afraid you can't bring..." The officer immediately stopped the small teen with the dog in her arms, only to have a hand flash in his face, brandishing British medical documents. He quickly adjusted his glasses and read the papers in silence before sighing. "My apologies. But I do ask that you put her down for a standard security check. Her collar may set off the metal detector."

Taking the papers back, the girl nodded and put her Corgi on the floor, speaking to the dog.

"Roxy, find Jonah."

With that, the Corgi turned to where another teen had already passed through security, then hurried to him and promptly sat by his feet while the girl was checked with a metal detector after removing her glasses.

The check was done in record time, so she easily passed through and scooped up her canine, walking away with the boy to catch their flight.

"Lucky girl... surviving that kind of injury..." The officer spoke to himself after reading the doctor's description of how the girl's torso had been impaled. A service puppy for her PTSD was probably just the beginning of her issues.

* * *

Back on home soil, the crew stopped only briefly to order three pizzas and drinks before returning home. Rock, who clearly didn't like flying in the slightest, had tried sleeping on the plane, but the lingering visions of when Jonah was shot kept her awake, staring straight at the seat in front of her, with Roxy held close to her chest for comfort, staving off the panic she'd felt when he was hit.

She had no idea what caused her to suddenly act like that, all she saw was everything tinted in red, anger surging through her body and mind as she dealt with the two assassins up close rather than with her guns. And the fact that whatever came over her suddenly stopped, stone cold stopped when she saw Jonah, the relief was too much. She'd tried to say something before she did, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find her voice. It kept catching in her throat whenever she mustered herself to vocalize even the smallest of sounds.

Right now, she was out cold. Almost like a budding tradition, she'd passed out from exhaustion during the drive back home, the only difference this time is that instead of being startled awake - and then reacting in panic - by Koko, she was instead brought back by Roxy licking her cheek. Clearly a safer - and cuter - option than blue fire and a razor sharp sword.

Pizza dinner was followed by an early night for the two younger teens. Dead Master was clearly going to be up for a while, leaving the younger two - for their respective reasons being what happened with the assassins - to turn in for the night to try and recover from the ordeal. Rock with her anxious confusion, and Jonah with the neat round hole in his shoulder. Even Roxy was tired from all the travelling, so much so that she didn't even curl up like she usually did. Instead she just flopped on top of the blankets in front of Rock, her eyes already closed and her tongue adorably poking out a bit.


	13. Chapter 13

"So we've been putting it off ever since Koko's deal with Pollock... Now it's time for your to show us what that Cannon of yours can do, little Princess." Lehm chuckled as Rock brought the weapon into existence and - unlike her usual over-the-back style of carrying it - planted the barrel on the ground, holding it steady as the rest of the crew, Koko, Dead Master - who despite her time with Rock, only ever saw the 'pistol' mode used in combat - and Jonah gathered behind her to watch with keen interest.

"Let's start easy... Show us that sniper rifle mode." Lehm instructed with a smirk, since he was of course, one of the two resident snipers and wanted to gauge what the weapon could do.

Gripping the weapon properly, Rock brought the Cannon straight upwards as it began transfiguring itself, parts moving, opening and sliding into other places while being bathed in the expected blue light, until the barrel lengthened, the fairly large scope slid out and into position, and the rear armguard that usually protected her forearm reconfigured into a shoulder stock with a final clack of metal on metal.

Overall, it resembled a modern, but oversized sniper rifle. At most, only about nine inches longer than the pistol mode, but most of the length was a combination of the stock and the long barrel, which had quite the menacing muzzle brake on the end.

"Now I know these targets are meant for our assault rifles and your shotgun, but gives us a few shots so we know what to expect." Lehm casually gestured to the familiar wooden targets lining the far end of the range. "We can tell you're a good shot, so don't show off. Just bodyshot's will be fine."

"Fine with me." Rock dropped to one knee - she was wearing her otherworld outfit, sans the longcoat, which was draped over a chair beside Koko at the moment - and lined up the crosshair on the farthest left target. "Stand behind me a bit more. Trust me."

"If you say so." Lehm did as he was asked, pulling the hearing protection off his neck and putting it on his head, with everyone else doing the same. Especially Dead Master. "Alright, ears are good. Fire when ready."

"Now." Rock glanced over and minutely nodded before pulling the trigger. Although loud, it wasn't as bad as the .50 BMG, but it clearly matched John Browning's crown jewel of a round's firepower as it violently kicked back and sent a thinner, faster blue bolt right through the center scoring of the target. The impact sent clods of dirt about six feet into the air behind it - the back of the range was a solid dirt hill, angled so that shots from larger rounds would bury rather than ricochet - as Rock stood up and held the long weapon at a downward angle in both hands.

"I see why you wanted me to move." Lehm noted the violent recoil and compared the weapon to an anti-tank rifle. "So now the MG mode, not the Gatlin, the other one."

With the same flurry of moving parts and blue light, the rifle completely changed into a much more reasonable - but still larger than normal - LMG-like weapon, more befitting of Ugo's bulk rather than her small stature.

"Same idea, go for a kill." Lehm visually compared this version to an M249 having a lovechild with an M60. It was perhaps the only version of the Cannon that could even hope to pass for a 'human' weapon, while the pistol and sniper rifle modes were just out of the fucking question.

Rock stood in a very stable stance as she held the weapon at her hip, only for a thin blue beam to sprout from somewhere on the front of the weapon. "I do believe you have something similar, a... laser sight, or something like that? It's an aiming assistance beam, in our world's vocabulary. We shorten it to just call it an 'aimbeam'."

"That's right. Same idea, but different name. Go for it." Lehm chuckled as she pulled the trigger, firing quite well from the hip, thanks to the beam. The bolts being strewn from the barrel - not fat but not thin either - were a lot like tracer ammunition, except for the fact that it was 1. the ammunition itself, and 2. All of them were glowing.

The steady fire rate, around 500 rounds per minute, came to a halt, then the beam vanished as Rock lowered the weapon and admired her handiwork. Last time she used this mode was a lot messier than this display. Her shots were within a generally four foot wide area, centered of course on the wooden target itself.

"Now for the big gun." Lehm chuckled darkly. "You did say it's the biggest, so I'm gonna back off, just to be sure."

With that, and no further instructions necessary, Rock brought the MG-Cannon up above her head with one hand, causing the parts to reconfigure into perhaps her deadliest weapon mode of them all. The crew gasped in amazement as a large drum-like object sprouted from the side as the three barrels locked into place before spinning empty chambered with a dull ratcheting sound before the huge drum began to glow blue, signalling that the weapon was now armed with energy.

Then, with one final clang, a single spike swung out of the underside of the weapon - clearly a support to rest the bulky weapon on - as she slammed it into the dirt and buried the long spike at least a foot down.

With a whirring sound, the weapon started spinning the barrels menacingly loudly before it began humming at full speed... Then she pulled the trigger.

That bulky drum on the side of the weapon visibly rotated as she fired, slowly, of course, but it was also an unintended shield for her to use if she was taking return fire. And the weapon's recoil was rather tame given the roughly 1200 RPM firerate as she tore up the third target in less than a second.

Releasing the trigger, the weapon slowed to a halt, dying down the cacophany of various mechanical sounds before Rock lifted the ground spike out of the dirt and reverted the whole thing back to pistol mode and held it over her back in her usual style.

"All done. My only other weapon is my Black Blade, but it doesn't change shape. Only the length of the blade itself." She dismissed the weapon with one hand, the other manifesting her sword - a single piece of straight metal except for an angled guard to cover her fingers - that was typically about three feet long. Right now it was better described as knife-length, a mere six inches. "See? Only the grip doesn't change. I can make it as long as I need it, up to my own height."

"Now you're speaking my language..." Valmet commented with a smile. "Want to try a practice match with me? I'm an expert with the knife. You look like you're a nice challenge."

"And what do I get if I win?" Rock knew they'd be using training weapons, not metal ones. That didn't mean this would be for nothing, of course.

"Let's see..." Valmet's eye narrowed as she considered the cocky challenge. "If you win... You get to boss me around for the rest of the day. If I win, I won't do anything to you. The shame of a defeat is enough as is."

"Define 'the rest of the day'..." Rock was clearly tempted now, her eyes narrowing with a smile tugging on her lips.

"Until midnight." Valmet's similar expression, challenging her to try and resist, was accompanied by a tauntingly raised eyebrow.

"Okay, you're on." Rock dismissed her Blade, ready for the match with Valmet. Sure, Valmet was just rippling with muscle, and no doubt she wasn't bluffing when she said she was an expert. It might actually be quite interesting to spar with her.

* * *

Minutes later, now armed with the rubber knives, Rock and Valmet stood five feet apart at the center of the shooting range, while everyone else watched from the same seats they'd been in for the Cannon display. Rock, knowing that everyone assumed she only used her Blade when it was sword length, was gripping hers in a reverse grip, her stance surprisingly relaxed. She was also not wearing her glasses, and kept her longcoat where it was on the chair, clad only in her shorts, bikini bra and boots. Valmet, of couse, was holding her knife opposite to Rock's, in the proper manner, held low with one hand raised in front of herself in a defensive stance.

"Alright, on three." Koko was the one to announce the start of the match. The rules were rather simple, any sort of grapple pin or successful neck strike with the knife was instant victory. Anything else was decided by tapping out or escaping. "One... Two... Three!"

Valmet didn't lunge for Rock, knowing the deceptiveness of her relaxed stance. Instead she started on the defense, slowly gauging Rock's reactions to her slow movements, approaching like a cobra before it would prepare to bite. Rock looked quite bored by the slow approach, so Valmet tensed for her first strike, only for Rock's lip to twitch into a tiny little smirk.

Valmet pulled her head back as Rock's hand shot out with incredible speed, narrowly dodging the rubber blade as they finally got things going. Rock's small size gave her the agility to dodge Valmet's strikes, but it put her at a disadvantage because she lacked Valmet's towering height and long reach. To go in for a strike left her vulnerable to grapples or the slightly amusing option... getting knocked around 'like a pinball' - a strange human saying she heard Jonah use - by Valmet's huge boobs. Not exactly a welcome thought, to have been beaten - literally - by a bosom the size of her head.

Valmet knew Rock wasn't able to get past her longer reach, but the girl was fast. Not even one strike, even a caress of the rubber, made contact with the girl's snow white skin. Valmet's own forearms bore some of the marks left by Rock's initial attempts to get past her arms, the red friction marks would easily fade within an hour or two, but in this context, she was already losing.

Of course, like everyone else, she thought Rock's muscle memory was with a longer blade length, but she had been wrong. She didn't seem hindered by the smaller weapon in the slightest, in fact, she seemed better since she also wasn't lugging her Cannon in the other hand. Her agility was easily beyond a human, so why was she holding herself back like this? There was no way Rock was playing her for a fool... right?

Could Rock really have ended the match with that first strike?

It was that passing thought in Valmet's head that changed the outcome of the whole match. Not for the better, nor for the worse.

Seeing the familiar shadow of worry in Valmet's eye, Rock went for another strike below the ear, but Valmet managed to catch herself at the last second, making Rock's rubber blade catch on her eyepatch and dragged the securing loops off her ears, revealing the truth underneath.

Rock, of course, respected Valmet. She was right, she was an expert knife fighter. Worthy of praise, in fact. She kept up with her for the entire match, easily keeping her at bay until that momentary distraction she'd been expecting. Valmet figured out that she'd been keeping things fair, but the thought that ha gone through her head was almost luminescent in how obvious it was. 'She's holding back.'

So, with that in mind, the last thing Rock even thought possible was for her to freeze from shock at the sight of Valmet's heavily scarred right eye, cloudy blindness surrounded by severe scarring from a diagonal strike of some kind.

Rock opened her mouth to speak, but try as she might, no words came out. The match was a draw, there was no way they could continue after that kind of surprise.

"I know." Valmet wasn't angry, she just smiled as she kelt to retrieve the dusty eyepatch. "It's not exactly easy on the eyes, I get it. So do you mind telling me why you were holding back so much?"

"I wanted to keep the fight fair. I know that look you had in your eye. You were wondering why I didn't take you out with the first strike, weren't you?"

"I was, yes." Valmet didn't bother putting her eyepatch back on yet. She knew she'd at least be summarizing the events from all those years ago.

"What good would a single strike victory do for me? You wanted a practice match, I agreed. You didn't ask me to show off my speed or my skills. You wanted a challenge, knowing that I could have defeated you with that first slash without much effort on my part."

"That's quite honourable. You really are the little warrior Princess we thought you were." Valmet teased. "But you won, y'know." Valmet leaned her head to the side to display the fresh friction mark that Rock gave her on the side of her neck. "So... What shall you have me do, My Lady?" Valmet crouched down to one knee in front of Rock, a big grin on her face. Rock beat her fair and square, now she had to pay her debt.

"You could start with the story about how you lost your eye." Rock's first order of the day was almost comically expected, so Valmet chuckled slightly before her grin turned into a warm smile.

"I see." Not normally one for puns, Valmet's cheeky reply made everyone either sigh or groan loudly.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Double upload because of that terrible pun at the end of the last chapter. I am not sure how I feel about it.**

* * *

Three days later, in the Atlantic Ocean...

Rock was leaning her forearms on the protective raised metal guard at the very front of Koko's container ship, the Atlas. All she could see, from all sides, was the deep blue of the ocean as they headed for South Africa for Koko's contract she'd initially received in Dubai. Her own sapphire blue eyes were at peace. Compared to flying, this was a much calmer experience. No security to hassle her about her glasses, or her choker, or for Roxy - who was on a leash at her feet, which was currently secured to Rock's left forearm - just a calm, peaceful expanse of blue waters and the sky above.

Aside from security and their bullshit - a rather broadly termed curse, she noted - the thing she didn't like about flying was the 'what if...?' part. The unknown risks, since back home, even the most powerful of mages - her mother, oldest sister, the Royal Court Mage, even other great minds in the fields of magic - could only hover, at most, their own height off the ground before either falling on their faces, or slowly returning to the ground by using the magic before it ran out on them. Non-mages like herself had no chance of experiencing 'flight' and most of the population feared heights, including herself.

Luckily, she knew how to swim, so falling overboard wasn't as daunting as falling off a roof or a ledge.

"I didn't know you could swim." Jonah's teasing voice came from behind her, and she smiled at his mental eavesdropping. Their Lifelink was growing stronger and stronger by the day, and now they could eavesdrop onto each other's thoughts when they were at a reasonably close distance of about ten to fifteen feet. Jonah, of course, had caught the tail end of her train of thought, which was of course about her ability to swim dissuading her fear of heights to some degree. "Now I want to see you in a bikini..."

"And what in the world is a 'bee key knee'?" Rock asked over her shoulder, one eye visible with a highly arched brow questioning the new word.

"Female swimwear." Jonah replied. "Male swimwear is called trunks."

"What's the difference?"

"It's... hard to explain. You might want to ask Koko or Valmet that one." Jonah didn't have a coherent response. Simply because he lacked the vocabulary to really offer an educational approach to the question's actually rather simple answer.

* * *

At the same time, in Langley, Virginia...

"Alright, Bookman, what was so important that you dragged me all the way here from Afghanistan? I'm still handling my end of the whole shitshow in Bagdhad..." Hex, the buxom loose cannon CIA black operations agent, was testy. A long flight from the other side of the planet, limited sleep and the aforementioned urgency of this unknown fiasco had her in a nearly feral bad mood. The only thing keeping her at 'testy' rather than 'homicidal' was a brief moment to drink a coffee about ten minutes prior. Luckily for everyone in the building... she got to finish said beverage uninterrupted.

She was, of course, speaking to the large, suited man in glasses eating a bag of peanuts behind his desk while she stood before it in slacks and a dress shirt with the top three buttons undone to prevent the small bits of plastic from becoming high velocity projectiles that failed to contain her infamous rack. Literally bigger than her head - but not by much - her chest was used in a variety of ways, from seduction to bludgeoning, hell, even suffocation.

"The President himself issued these orders to me, Hex. Take that into consideration before we move to the boardroom for the meeting." Bookman paused his snacking to give her a level stare over the top of his spectacles. "I've been told to inform you to keep all information regarding this new operation strictly word of mouth. You can't even write down directions. It took me ten minutes just to get the boardroom to memory."

"Interesting... So this op doesn't even conceptually exist. I get it." Hex quickly caught on, her sense of - morally questionable - duty giving rise to pique her interest. "So when is this meeting?"

"In five minutes. Follow me." Bookman rose from his desk, bringing his snack with him as he lead the busty commando into an often unused boardroom in one of the back wing's of the CIA headquarters, which was now very occupied by two very unusual women, one seated at the head of the long table, the other standing slightly behind them to the side, like a bodyguard. "Empress, this is the associate of mine that was mentioned during our last meeting with President Obama."

The woman seated at the table slightly tilted her head to the side, clearly intrigued. "Enter, close the door."

Bookman of course did as he was ordered, and Hex narrowed her eyes. This woman was strange, clearly an obnoxious aristocrat from some ass pit of a country, given her attire and attitude... But for some reason, Hex felt like she and the 'Empress' shared some... connection.

"Now then... I am told you are referred to by the name 'Hex'?" The woman set her red and blue gaze upon the woman, almost completely ignoring the fat man - who had completely stopped his snacking in her presence - that was standing at the door with his hands by his sides with rapt focus on his face, compared to the woman's more relaxed, but subtly aggressive body language.

"I am." Hex replied curtly, still trying to figure out why the woman felt so familiar to her.

"I am also told you are one of, if not the best field agents that this 'CIA' organization has to offer." The royal woman continued in that same tone, and Hex inwardly noted her voice sounded like it had a hint of a French purr to it. "If that is true, I have high expectations concerning the matter you and I will be discussing with this meeting."

"And what is this 'matter' you're talking about?" Hex was getting fed up with being left out of the loop for so long.

"Take a seat by my right hand, and I shall elaborate upon the details." The royal woman gestured to the seat at her right hand. "Including that feeling you're so confused about right now. I just so happen to know exactly what it is."

How the woman knew was beyond Hex, so she begrudgingly obeyed the order to sit at the specific chair offered to her. "Details first, feeling later."

"You are in no position to be making any sort of demands, Hex." Bookman warned her.

"No, that is quite alright, Mr. Black... I understand why she made such a demand, I assure you." The royal woman held up a hand to silence to only male in the room, only briefly looking at him before setting her heterochromatic gaze onto Hex's face. "I... am Black Star Empress, Queen of the Otherworld. Behind me, my middle daughter, Black Rock Beast. I have called upon your organization's services, and in particular, your expertise, to assist me in handling a very dangerous matter that threatens both Earth and Otherworld, simultaneously. The first step of which involves locating a specific person that my experts on my end have confirmed has come to Earth through a means that only a select few under my direct control are even capable of doing."

"If your experts confirmed that much, why not have them handle it? Why call upon the CIA in the first place?" Hex challenged, crossing her arms and leaning back in the desk chair.

"I shall explain the 'why' in due time, but for now let's continue under the impression that my experts aren't experts in _all_ fields." Empress gave Hex a slightly stern stare before continuing. "This person, under whatever identity she may now be using... is my youngest daughter, Black Rock Shooter. She has been missing for over three and a half years, but after a string of incidences on my end, I was informed that a wandering merchant, by a stroke of luck, caught a good look of my daughter going through a Royal Portal Sphere in an area of the Otherworld known as the Badlands in the past few months. After informing me of this, I had my experts pinpoint which of many worlds that the, shall we now call the RPS, deposited her. That of course is here, Earth."

Hex waited for Empress to continue, having kept up with the details so far.

"Unfortunately, my own RPS didn't deposit me with the intended accuracy I desired. Despite my vast knowledge of Otherworld concepts and magic in general, even now I am unable to pinpoint even a trace of even the faintest of particles that could lead me to my daughter's last known location. This is of course where the CIA and yourself come into the picture."

"You want us to locate the girl, don't you?" Hex asked. "Alive or dead, is my next question."

" _Alive._ " Empress' glare couldn't have been any more dangerous than her shift in tone. "Not that a mere human could even hope to harm her. She possesses one of the rarest abilities of our kind, and that is to constantly heal any and all wounds in mere moments. I do believe your English language refers to this as 'regeneration'?"

"Yes, mother. That is the correct word." Beast suddenly spoke up without even glancing in her mother's direction.

"So your daughter's immortal? Lovely. I like a nice challenge." Hex uncrossed her arms and leaned forward. "So in that case, I'll need very detailed information about what the little girl even looks like. I may be the best, but the best can't do anything without a face to match what we do find."

"That leads me to the other part of our discussion..." Empress didn't acknowledge Hex's subtle challenge regarding the 'spoken only' rule of their entire operation. "That feeling you're experiencing... it's called a Lifelink."

"A Lifelink?" Now Hex was suspicious. Sure, the woman figured out she was distracted, but unless she started making sense, she'd be chalking the royal bitch up to a 'royal pain in the ass' very shortly...

"A spiritual connection, of body, mind and soul, shared between two people, initiated at birth, regardless of age differences. When found, the two then become one." Empress recited rather poetically. "If you didn't catch on... You're Lifelinked to _me_..." Empress smirked darkly. "Whether you like it or not."


	15. Chapter 15

"Uh huh... I think I get the idea now..." Rock felt confident that she understood what a bikini was now, thanks to Valmet's explanation. Her gaze narrowed at Jonah's presence on the other side of the wall, where he was waiting for her to return while he did some studying. " _Pervert_." She commented to herself in Old Speak before turning back to Valmet and thanking her. "Thanks for the help... Now if you'll excuse me, I have some boy trouble to deal with..."

"Just don't hurt him, I'm sure Koko wouldn't appreciate that." Valmet reminded her whilst trying not to snicker at her choice of wording.

"He'll live... She won't need to worry."

Jonah knew what she was about to do, but didn't give her any indication he'd heard her every thought while talking to Valmet. To her, he was too focused on his damned-to-Hell math homework... But he wasn't... which she found out the hard way...

The second she tried to smack the back of his head, he spun around, caught her arm and had her pinned against the tabletop from behind.

" _I heard everything_." Jonah didn't care which language he was using, since she knew both. " _You were exactly seven feet away from me, well within range for me to hear your thoughts_."

"How did you hide it from me?" Rock held up her hands from the surface of the table to indicate surrender. He released her before answering.

"I learned how to multitask." Jonah's reply made her realize how he'd masked it by concentrating on his homework while still listening to her thoughts. Damn he was getting good at understanding the in's and out's of their Lifelink.

"I have the experience, yet you clearly have the skill..." Rock smirked before punching him in the arm. Fairly hard, given her strength, but she knew he could handle it, since his gunshot wound in his other shoulder had been completely healed within two days of receiving it. Her healing power, a super rare trait from back home, had clearly been transferred to him at least a bit. With that conferred a reasonable degree of durability as well as the healing capabilities.

"It's not hard to do." Jonah shrugged, still slightly amused.

"I'll give it a try then... Later." Rock pulled out her own chair, sitting down to resume her language work. "English is close to New Speak, so I shouldn't be having this much trouble, should I?"

"You did move up to the next equivalent education year, so it's understandable." Jonah was at the tail end of the year she'd just finished, but he knew the shift between books very well. Sometimes it took him by surprise too.

"Yeah, that's true..." Rock grumbled, since she knew after a three year Badlands stint, she'd be needing to catch up, and fast. Aside from a few things, her Otherworld formal education was quite similar... aside from the use of magic by her tutor, of course. They were a mage by trade. "Other than that, I guess I should probably slow down on my language homework."

"Wait..." Jonah suddenly looked up at her. "Say that first part again."

"Which part?" Rock narrowed her eyes at him.

"'Other than that.'" Jonah nodded for her to repeat the words.

"Other than that." Rock was suspicious about what he was going on about, but she said the words anyway.

"Again."

"Other than that." Rock repeated the three words a second time.

"One more time."

"Other than that." Rock frowned. "What the Hell are you making me say that for?"

"You have an accent."

"A what?" Rock had never heard of the term before, and it wasn't in New Speak.

"An accent is a slightly different sound to your voice, Tojo has one, and all the people in London have their own too. Yours sounds like you're from a country called France."

"I don't understand."

"There's nothing wrong with having an accent, you know. It just gives us a better foundation for your fake identity, that's all." Jonah smirked slightly. "And it makes you sound a lot cuter too, y'know."

"Now I get why you like listening to me talk so much..." Rock of course blushed and pouted, turning her focus back to her homework as she kept speaking. "You can be surprisingly creepy sometimes..."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Jonah smirked, following her lead and getting back to work.

* * *

The next day, Koko informed them that another ship would be docking with them later that morning to make a cargo transfer. Not that they really cared, since it didn't involve any shooting or even socializing for that matter. Even Dead Master wasn't all that concerned with the rather mundane announcement.

"So what's the cargo they're transferring?" Dead Master asked, laying on her stomach on the floor of the ship's common room, reading a fashion magazine. She didn't care for the clothes, just the perspective on culture.

"VL-Mica missiles. Sixteen of them." Koko replied. "So unless you want to get flattened by the shipping containers, I recommend staying away from the top deck when they do meet up with us."

"More work stuff, not my problem." Rock commented from somewhere behind the couch, where she was sitting with Roxy while Jonah sat at one of the tables doing his homework from the day before.

"When 2300 pounds is laying on top of you, it will be." Koko countered. "Just stay inside while all the commotion's going on, alright? I like my Princesses in the third dimension, not the second."

"Koko, we've slowed to a halt to wait for the freighter from HQ." Valmet's voice came through the radio clipped to Koko's jeans. "They've just showed up on our long range radar."

"How long until they're in docking position?" Koko asked into the device.

"An hour, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes at the most."

"Copy that." Koko returned the device to her hip. "There you have it. You have one hour of playtime topside, then you're in here or in your cabin. No arguments."

"Ummm... Koko, are you still there?" Valmet's voice came back, sounding wary. Koko knew that tone and quickly grabbed the radio again.

"What's the matter?"

"We've got one of those portal balls in the middle of the top deck..."

"Okay, _now_ it's my problem." Rock and Jonah quickly got up and hurried past Koko, leaving Dead Master with her as a precaution.

"The kids are on their way." Koko reported. "I'm with Dead Master."

"Copy that."

* * *

Topside, after Jonah retrieved his FNC rifle and two magazines he'd taped together, the pair hurried across the unloaded cargo deck until they came to a halt several feet away from the levitating black orb, well aware of what it was.

"Let's figure out who it is first, then act based on that." Jonah commented as he loaded the taped mags into his rifle and chambered a round.

"You think I know every single citizen of my home world?" Rock challenged. "I doubt my mother even got that privilege."

Before Jonah could do more than chuckle, the portal stretched into a disc, as they knew it would, and deposited someone that was moving at a fairly high velocity, as if they were thrown or fell into the portal itself.

Crashing into the deck and rolling several feet to a halt, they surprisingly had the fortitude to push themselves into a standing position and peer around before coming face to face with Rock.

It was a girl, shorter than Rock's five foot stature, and she was darker skinned than Jonah, with stark white hair and brilliant orange eyes - with the same gear shape in them as Dead Master and Rock - and she was wearing a sort of hooded vest that appeared to be more like a dress. She also had a large scarf around her face, so that only her eyes and a part of her forehead were visible beneath the hood. Around her booted feet were large weight-like metal discs as well, plus she had white stockings that stopped at mid-thigh, with little bows on the sides at the top.

"Scratch that... I know this one." Rock slowly approached the girl, switching to Old Speak. " _Strength, it's been a while, hasn't it?_ "

" _My Lady._ " The girl, Strength, immediately lowered to one knee, putting a palm to her chest before lowering her head in respect. " _It has been four years, I have worried about your whereabouts every second of the day._ "

" _I'm surprised you're still in service to my mother_." Rock continued, crouching in front of the girl as well, lifting her head. " _She refused to unshackle you since I left, hasn't she?_ "

" _Yes, My Lady._ "

" _Let me._ " Rock took the girl's other hand in both of her own. " _My mother holds no sway in this world, therefore you are no longer in her service, nor mine. You are free, of all debts and charges placed upon you by any and all residents of Otherworld. By my Royal blood, I declare this._ "

In an instant, the heavy weights around Strength's ankles shattered into dust, and they both stood up.

" _I still wish to serve you, in all your endeavors._ " Strength's upper arms glowed with white light for a moment, forming a strange armband tattoo on each bicep that matched the pattern on her scarf. " _That is a wish I declare of my own will._ "

" _Serve me, not as a servant, but as an equal. That is my only wish._ " Rock hugged the girl warmly. " _There is someone I wish you to meet. The boy standing behind me... He is my Lifelinked partner. His name is Jonah, and he understands Old Speak, as well as New Speak._ "

" _Sir Jonah, I am Strength, of the Royal Guard to her Majesty and her daughters._ " The girl bowed her head in that same display of respect. " _It is a pleasure to meet you._ "

* * *

 **Edit: Minor editing that I missed. Also added a missing sentence from Strength's outfit description.**


	16. Chapter 16

"So what's her story?" Koko asked Jonah after pulling him aside to let Rock handle showing Strength around the ship. She'd need a fake identity when they landed in South Africa, otherwise travelling with her would be a huge pain in the ass. On top of the awkward questions.

"She's Rock's former bodyguard." Jonah replied. "She's not as young as she looks, and her name's Strength."

"Does she speak what's-it-called... New Speak?" Koko asked, referring to the modified English that replaced Old Speak.

"I believe so." Jonah nodded. "She spoke to us in Old Speak, and she seems to understand us."

"Alright, and she's not psycho like Dead Master? No need to intimidate her, I hope?" Koko spared the hooded girl a glance before she and the resident royalty left the common room.

"No, she's fine. You don't need to worry about her." Jonah shook his head. "By the way..."

"Yes?" Koko arched an eyebrow at his change of topic.

"Why did I see your brother on the other ship? Africa's not his usual territory." Jonah was of course talking about Koko's elder twin brother, Kaspar, with whom he had some bad blood. He'd spotted the man himself standing at the rail of the other ship as it moved itself to line up with the Atlas. Thankfully he kept himself neutral so that Rock wouldn't pick up on his emotions concerning the elder Heckmatyar.

"I wasn't aware of that, actually..." Koko's usual smile faltered for a moment. She of course knew about their history, so she immediately tugged her radio off her hip. "Valmet, where's Kaspar?"

"Did he come aboard with the crewmen?" Valmet hadn't left the bridge since before Strength arrived. "Because I can't see him anywhere near the crew doing the transfer."

"Shit." Koko scowled. "Keep me posted if you do happen to find him from there. I'm gonna call him directly."

"Copy that."

With that and a switch of communication devices, Koko had her satellite phone against her ear and her radio back on her hip before the first ring. Kaspar answered on the third.

"Kaspar here."

"I know you're onboard, where are you?" Koko didn't even give him a hello.

"At the stern gangway, we're staying out of the way while the containers are being put into position."

"Why are you in Africa?"

"I know what you're thinking, sis. So let's talk in person. Want me to find you, or stay here?"

"Common room. You have five minutes." Koko hung up and hung her phone back around her neck by the lanyard she'd hooked it to. She turned to Jonah with a sigh. "Think you can behave while we talk?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Jonah shook his head. "I will try though."

"I understand." Koko sighed again, louder. "Dead Master, you're gonna need to leave here for a bit, my brother's a bit of a prick."

"I figured as much, Koko." Dead Master stood up from her prone place on the floor, bringing her magazine with her. "And for what it's worth, Jonah... Whatever he did, you didn't deserve it."

Jonah said nothing as the horned necromancer left the room. He and Koko weren't pleased with Kaspar's presence aboard the Atlas, even if it wasn't malevolent. So within a few minutes, the elder Heckmatyar arrived with one of his usual four bodyguards, clad in full black tactical gear with a P90 topped by an EOTech sight. Kaspar himself was in a sharp navy blue suit with a red tie, hands in his pockets as he set his gaze upon his sister and - with a slight smirk - Jonah waiting for him in the empty room.

"I'll get right to the point." Kaspar wasn't a fool, he could feel the tension in the air. "I came to the transfer to pass along two messages. The first of which is that a CIA spook's been poking around the two of us. Why he's doing it, I have no clue. HQ's been able to at least get a name and a face; he goes by Scarecrow. Bit of a joke, honestly, but he's got skills."

"And the second message?" Koko hadn't wavered even a muscle. She was listening, that alone was stretching her patience with her brother.

"A warning, so to say." Kaspar explained. "Rumours that the Chinese are doing some aggressive expansions in South Africa, a guy named Gouming Chen, head of the Daxinghai Trading Company. I've been told to tell you to watch your back, both in business and in the streets."

"Is that all?" Koko asked curtly.

"That's everything, yes." Kaspar nodded. "I'll head back to the gangway until the VL-Mica's are unloaded for you. Then I'll be on my way."

With that, he and the bodyguard, whom Jonah noticed was Chiquita - he'd caught a glimpse of her forearm tattoo as she turned to follow Kaspar - left the common room and went back the way they'd came. Only after their footsteps faded did Koko pinch the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger.

"You did good, Jonah... Better than I did, for sure."

"Should I tell Rock what happened between him and me?" Jonah asked, since she was out of range to hear his thoughts right now.

"That's your decision to make, not mine." Koko smiled slightly as she lowered her hand. "If you feel it's necessary, then do it."

Jonah smiled too, for just a moment before his expression went back to his usual stoic self. "Been what, two years since it happened?"

"Almost three, actually." Koko laughed. "Been that long already, has it?"

* * *

Rock sat in silence the entire time that Jonah shared the vivid memories of his attack on the military base to kill one of Kaspar's employees, Yosef Gasuud. She felt every single emotion as it happened, and only after he'd pulled his forehead away from hers did she speak.

"I don't like him too."

Jonah laughed slightly. "Koko isn't fond of him either, I think her reasons are different though." Having the ability to share the memories, Lifelink or otherwise, was a welcome reprieve to the jaded view of the arms trade that he had, and his personal dislike of weapons as a whole, rather ironic given his occupation.

"I didn't get along with my first sister, and my oldest sister barely had time to even talk to me. So I think I understand what Koko's reasons are." Rock smiled. "Kaspar's just a dick, it's not that hard to figure out."

"Why didn't you get along with your sisters?" Jonah asked, intrigued about the mysterious siblings she occasionally mentioned.

"My oldest sister was always studying her magic, assisting my mother with politics, or sleeping." Rock explained, then elaborated when she sensed his confusion regarding the sleep comment. "Mages need to sleep... a lot. It's how they... recharge? Yeah, that's the word."

"What about warriors? You mentioned the term a few times, so I suspect there's a major difference?" Jonah asked, piecing together certain keywords she'd used when talking about her homeworld, the Otherworld, as it was called.

"Us warriors eat to keep up our strength. Pretty straightforward, actually. Mind over matter... Brains versus brawn. Strong against smart." Rock smiled wider. "Haven't you noticed how much Dead Master sleeps? You've clearly noticed how much I usually eat."

"She's a mage." Jonah caught on, finally putting the term to the concept. It was true, whenever she wasn't doing something important, Dead Master was fast asleep. She clearly had the sense to sleep somewhere easily accessible should she be needed, likewise she chose reasonably comfortable places like couches or announced she'd be in her cabin (aboard the Atlas) or in her room (at home in Sussex). "Necromancy, right?"

"That's right." Rock nodded. "And Strength's a warrior, like me. As her name implies, she's incredibly strong. Even stronger than I am, in fact."

"So what about your other sister? The middle one?" Jonah asked, since he'd concluded that only the eldest of the trio was a mage.

"Warrior." Rock nodded. "And my mother's a mage. My father was a warrior, but he's dead. Died fighting a few weeks before I was born."

"Fighting what?"

"Bandits. He was defending my mother." Rock shrugged. "I've gathered from your memories that yours died from something called a 'fighter jet' in an 'airstrike'. Kaspar was the one that sold them the thing." Rock had a good short term memory for details like that, recalling Kaspar telling Jonah that fact himself in the shipping container he'd locked Jonah inside.

"Yeah, that's right." Jonah knew he'd shared those ones with her, so he just nodded. "What're your sisters names?"

"White Rock Shooter... and Black Rock Beast." Rock replied. "My mother's name is Black Star Empress."

"I'm noticing a trend..." Jonah commented with a cheeky smirk.

"White's my oldest sister, Beast's the middle one." Rock knew what he was thinking, all the similarities in their names clearly amused him. "But for your information, in Otherword, our name is all of them. We don't use middle or surnames like here on Earth. You'd be named Jonathan Mar. Not Jonathan, pause, Mar. Nicknames are what people usually go by. White, Beast and Rock were our respective shortened names that my mother used when speaking to us informally. Full name with a Royal title prefix, like Princess, when it was formal."

"What about your mother? Did she ever go by a shorthand or a nickname?"

"Usually just Empress. It's her title, after all." Rock shrugged. "You alright?" She picked up his sudden tension almost immediately, moving closer to him on the edge of the bunk. They'd been here to have a quiet moment to delve into Jonah's past - his choice, of course - and only now did Jonah's body and mind spike with tension.

"Going back on such dark memories for me isn't easy..." Jonah replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, kinda just... snuck up on me."

"I'm surprised you didn't flinch when it did that. I almost did." Rock joked, moving closer with a small smile on her face. "If you can't relax, I'll _make_ you relax. Because _I_ feel what _you_ feel, remember? It's starting to feel painful."

"And what do you have in mind?" Jonah challenged, letting her kiss him with a cheeky smirk on both of their faces.

"Oh, this and that." Rock replied with evasive airiness, continuing to kiss him with that same cheeky smirk on her face as she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and slowly straddled his lap. She let out a pleased hum in her throat as Jonah linked his own arms around her lower back, holding her closer to his chest as they continued to make out for several minutes.

Through their Lifelink, they could hear their perfectly sync'd heartbeats picking up speed, and the warmth of their bodies contrasting sharply with the cool air from the cabin's air conditioning, sending shivers up their spines and making goosebumps come and go in waves all over their bodies, which made the hairs on their arms and necks stand straight up at each pass.

A sudden banging on the cabin door snapped them back to reality, Rock twisting around to see Lehm opening the door, looking annoyed at something other than the sight before his eyes. A sight he wouldn't even be concerned about during a normal knock at their door. This was not a normal knock.

"Ship's under attack by local pirates, you're needed topside. Gear up, you got two minutes before they're in range."

Hurrying to grab their respective weapons - Jonah's FNC and Rock's M870 - from beside the cabin's desk, they quickly loaded their guns in silence, despite both of them thinking the exact same thing.

'Worth the interruption'.


	17. Chapter 17

Rock and Jonah could hear a distant voice yelling into a megaphone as they hurried onto the deck, Lehm having left them with instructions to check with Koko for where they were to go. They then heard Koko's angry yelling in reply to the pirate with the megaphone, pinpointing her position two decks above them.

When they arrived, Valmet with her Steyr AUG, and Strength - unarmed, it seemed - were waiting at Koko's sides, while the woman herself barked orders to the rest of the crew - both the ship's and the bodyguards - in her radio.

"Ugo, go port side to take out Hostile 3 with an RPG. R, Lutz, rifles on Hostile 1 after Wiley blows it from the railing. Lehm, Mao, standby on the M134's until Hostile 2 is in range. Tojo, how long until we're ready to engage?"

"Sixty seconds, at the most. You should be able to hear the chopper now."

"Rock, Jonah, I need you two to split up and keep an eye out for additional boats that try to send goons over the railing. We have three confirmed hostiles; two are boats, one's a chopper. If shit gets hairy, I'll need you to whip out the Gatlin Gun mode on your Cannon, alright?"

"You got it." Rock and Jonah shared a glance, then hurried away at top speed to scour the rails and hull for any surprises.

When the chopper arrived, Koko gave the order for Lehm and Mao to light it up, and they both brought their respective M134 Minigun's to full speed, the _BRRRRRRRRRR_ of the two weapons filling the air, only accented by two near simultaneous blasts; Ugo's rocket, and Wiley's C4 he threw onto the lead boat. Then assault rifles began popping and chattering to mop up the survivors on the boats.

While that was going on, Rock and Jonah were checking the sides of the ship - each on one side of the ship itself - for any ladders, grappling hooks or ropes. It wasn't until the chopper was shot down - crashing into the ocean past the lead boat, which quickly followed suit - that a sudden clatter behind Rock made her spin around and shoulder her shotgun, watching a grappling hook skitter towards the railing and clunk into position as it caught onto the metal.

"Here fishy fishy fishy..." Rock grinned as she smoothly hid behind a support pillar for the deck above her. "Come to Blake..."

After about thirty seconds, a very young boy with an AK47 on his back came clambering over the railing, only to freeze when he heard Rock start to chuckle darkly.

"Go for your gun, I dare you." She stepped out from behind the pillar, already directing her Remington at the boy with a cocky smirk. She chambered a shell with the intimidating clack-clack that pump shotguns were so known for.

The boy's eyes were wide with fear, and with clinical detachment from the situation, Rock noted that the boy was _too_ scared. He wasn't a hardened pirate at all, he was still green and inexperienced.

After several quiet seconds, the boy slowly held up his hands in surrender, his hands and knees visibly shaking.

"Smart boy." Rock approached and roughly took his AK away, then pointed at the nearby wall. They boy was either unable to speak English or too scared to speak, so he meekly approached the steel wall and placed his forehead against the surface. While he did that, Rock checked over the railing to see a much smaller boat, a Zodiac, was on the other end of the hook. Three older boys, around Dead Master's age, were inside and unable to see the boy's current status.

With a sadistic grin, Rock grabbed the rope in one hand and gave it a calculated pull, causing the roughly 650 pounds of boat and pirates to leave the water and fly in an elegant parabola before they crashed back into the water at fatal velocity. She then severed the rope with a curt blast of buckshot and tossed the hook itself into the water.

* * *

"He followed me home, can I keep him?" Rock asked cheekily after she lead the rookie pirate boy back to Koko after all the other pirates were dealt with.

"You let him get aboard for your own amusement, didn't you?" Koko could tell by Rock's tone that it was true.

"I neither confirm nor deny these claims."

Koko sighed while the rest of the crew laughed. She then started speaking in the local dialect to the boy. " _You can swim, can't you? We're not that far from the coast, you'll make it there within a few hours._ "

The boy, now able to communicate with someone, could only stare in confusion before Koko pointedly stared at Rock and jerked her head towards the railing.

"Give him a live preserver once he's in the water." Koko switched back to English as Rock hoisted the boy over the railing and unceremoniously dropped him into the water with a panicked cry.

The life ring quickly followed, and everyone laughed again.

"We're due to dock at the harbour in two hours, I want everyone prepped by then. We've got quite a few things on the agenda for the next few days. Now... hop to!" Koko clapped her hands for them to get moving, and only Valmet and Rock lingered for a moment.

"Hey, you went through a lot here... Just want you to know I've got your back." Rock gently put her hand onto Valmet's forearm, speaking quietly after noticing the older woman's sudden tension. She'd told the story about losing her eye here, so the tension was to be expected.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, Princess." Valmet smiled warmly at the resident Royalty's concern.

* * *

After the delivery of the missiles, the crew spent a majority of the day recuperating from their long voyage - initially begun in England, going down the west coast of Africa to arrive in South Africa that morning - until coming together for dinner. During which Koko presented Strength with her very important documents for her fake identity, Sarah Tessa Richards.

"These will make your life here a lot easier, especially when we're traveling." Koko explained as the small girl accepted the documents and idly examined them for a moment before sliding them into a cleverly concealed pocket in her dress. "If there's any details we got wrong, aside from what we already discussed had to be fake, just let me know and we can have it reissued as a misprint."

"My age." Strength had already read the details, only one of which was incorrect. "I'm 16, not 17."

"Your birthday, according to Rock, was yesterday... wasn't it?"

"Oh." Strength actually had lost track of the day of the week it was back in Otherworld, and wasn't sure if time was different here, Earth she recalled Rock mentioning, than it was back home.

"Hey then we should at least celebrate it, right?" Lutz suggested with a warm grin.

"It's not a big deal." Strength shook her head to decline the offer. "I didn't celebrate my birthday back home, so I see no point in doing so here."

"See, that's back home." Dead Master spoke up. "You're not home anymore, as bluntly as that comes across. You're also not indebted to the Queen anymore either, so whatever you had to endure from her doesn't matter anymore. You're free to do and choose what you wish, and that includes being able to celebrate your birthday, even if it's a day late."

"I still don't want to celebrate it..." Strength shook her head again. "This year." She added as a sort of compromise.

"I understand, Strength." Koko nodded once, very slowly. "And we'll respect your choice... but next year, we're going to celebrate it. I promise."

Strength nodded once, not saying a word as she drew back her hood and removed her scarf to eat. She had a small, mousy look to her, and her orange eyes were a bit on the bigger side, but her darker skin and white hair sharply contrasted to alleviate the differences in proportions to her face. Overall, a very cute girl.

* * *

Later that evening, in the hotel they were staying at, Strength just finished having a shower and came back out of the bathroom to find a small, very familiar object with a little bow tied to it resting beside a note written in Old Speak runes. She smiled slightly as she held the object in one hand, the other unfolding the note.

" _You're free, remember?_ " The note read in Rock's still familiar rune-writing, even after four years apart. " _So here's to you, Strength. Happy birthday. Rock._ "

Strength's smile widened slightly as she gently traced the pad of her thumb against the surface of the Rubik's Cube, which she knew under the Otherworld name of a Box o' Nines.

"Thank you... my Princess." Strength gently untied the bow around the gift, and sat down with her gift, immediately setting to work at solving the disaster that Rock set the colours into, the small room filling with the clicking and clacking she knew so well from her rare moments of relaxation in the Royal Guard barracks in the palace.

This year was a good birthday, for sure... She mused, but then smiled again as she thought. I wonder what next year'll be like?


	18. Chapter 18

9:56am the next morning...

Koko grumbled slightly as she checked her watch for the fourth time in under two minutes. She had a sneaking suspicion that Dr. Miami, her longtime friend, wasn't going to show up for their meeting during the Diesa weapons expo. With her today was Lehm, Rock and Jonah. Lehm, since they were outdoors, was gladly enjoying a smoke while the two kids were located at a nearby fence, Rock quite sassily perched atop the topmost rail while alternatively swinging her feet at the knees, and Jonah leaning on the vertical post a mere foot away with his hands in his pockets.

"Something wrong, boss?" Lehm knew Koko was antsy, so he finally spoke up.

"I'm not sure... It's not time for her to show up yet, but I can't shake the feeling she's gone AWOL... again." Koko replied, still staring at her watch.

"Five bucks says she doesn't show up." Lehm smirked knowingly as a car pulled up nearby, and out stepped Dr. Miami's assistant, Malin. His smile only widened further as Malin came bustling over to them and bowed deeply.

"Miss Heckmatyar, I am terribly sorry..."

Koko heaved a sigh as Lehm chuckled dryly. They both knew. "Morning Malin, she ran off, didn't she?"

"Yes, ma'am... another butterfly excursion." Mlin stood up straight and rummaged in her purse to produce a small folded piece of paper from a coil notebook. "She emailed me these GPS co-ordinates for me to pass along to you."

"I see." Koko's eyes narrowed for a infinitesimal moment as she accepted the paper. "So, Miami told me there was something else to be discussed... Did she happen to inform you about that particular topic before she left?"

"Yes, actually. It concerns a certain gentleman that's been paying frequent visits to her, such as taking her out to eat at Port Elizabeth. An older Chinese gentleman, if I do recall." Malin quickly fell into step with Koko, who was flanked by Lehm and followed by her ever present children, Rock and Jonah.

"Would he happen to be named Gouming Chen?" Koko asked warily.

"Yes, that's his name. He also had a female assistant, clearly a soldier of some kind, judging by her cold gaze and rigid, disciplined nature." Malin explained. "I was told by Dr. Miami for you to be cautious should you encounter him at all while you're here in South Africa."

"You're not the first, I assure you." Koko nodded knowingly, while Jonah scowled for a moment behind them both. "So that's all she passed along for you this time?"

"Sadly, yes. I should be going now." Malin bowed again to each of them before turning to return to her car. As soon as she was out of earshot, Koko held up the GPS note over her shoulder to Lehm.

"Go armed."

"Who's staying with you? SUV's only got room for eight." Lehm accepted the note and slid it into his chest pocket, nestled safely behind his pack of smokes.

"Ugo, Dead Master and Strength." Koko replied. "These two need to let off some steam... and if I do recall, Miami mentioned mountains when she and I spoke on the phone. Jonah's got alpine experience, remember?"

"That means the Princess comes too." Lehm teased with a grin. "Alright, I'll stick with you for now, then we gear up at the hotel after I brief the others."

"You think Chen's here at the expo?" Jonah suddenly asked, and Koko hummed in thought for a moment.

"I'm about 60% sure he's here somewhere." Koko replied as they made their way into one of the expo's converted plane hangars - it was taking place on an old airfield converted into a sort of convention center - and they all managed to grab a drink to beat the humid heat.

Overall, for perhaps 30 minutes, all was calm for them. No Chinese man approached them, no gunfire, just a buzz of chatter among the other dealers or the company representatives showing their products.

Then a British man, unfamiliar to Rock and Jonah, hailed for Koko from a few meters away. He was flanked by two bodyguards, one male and one female. The male had two very large scars on one side of his face, the woman had sunglasses with pink lenses on her forehead.

"Ah, if it isn't the inestimable Koko Heckmatyar. What a coincidence."

"President Curry, from CCAT. Of course." Koko spun around at the hail, recalling the last time she'd encountered the older Englishman was with the deal with Major Pollock in southern Russia. The pipeline skirmish. Curry had been contracted to sell Stinger missiles to Pollock alongside her own anti-aircraft missiles.

"Who's he?" Rock asked almost immediately to Jonah and Lehm while Koko and Curry sparked up a business conversation she wasn't interested in even hearing. It wasn't difficult to tune them out.

"Fellow arms dealer. He's not as notorious as Koko, by any means, but he's based in England. His two bodyguards, Mildo and Luu, they've been his lackey's since the beginning." Lehm explained. "Wiley told me they were there during the Pollock deal you two and I stayed home for."

"So he's small time?" Rock concluded.

"Not my first choice of words, but yeah, pretty much." Lehm chuckled. "Now then, we're not sticking around for much longer. I can tell Koko's getting fed up with trying to bait that Chen guy out of hiding. When we get back to the hotel, gear up for our little field trip to find the good doctor. Rock, since we're going into the mountains, your shotgun's not going to be much use. Might want to grab a rifle or an SMG instead."

"I know that look..." Jonah could already see the cocky challenge expression forming on her face, one he knew better than the rest of the crew. "Rock, _no_."

"Rock, _yes!_ " Rock countered. "Lehm..." Her voice took on a sickly sweet infliction. "Five bucks says my shotgun's a better idea than an automatic."

"Make it ten and you've got a deal, Princess." Lehm held out his hand for her to shake on it. He could tell from Jonah's commentary that she was either going to try something foolish, badass... or crazy. Or all three at once.

" _Deal._ " She gladly accepted the handshake, not planning on deviating from her trusty weapon, the Remington M870, anytime soon.

At that very moment, they noticed that the crowds of other dealers were moving away from them, which also put an end to Koko's chat with Curry, who politely excused himself before they heard the slightly echoing click of a cane against the concrete. They all turned to see Gouming Chen himself leaning on said walking stick with a suited male bodyguard by his side.

"You are Koko Heckmatyar, yes?" The man himself, Chen, spoke excellent English with only a hint of an accent as he addressed Koko in the ringing silence that followed everyone's hurried departure of the area they were in. "I am Gouming Chen, of the Daxinghai Trading Company of Hong Kong."

* * *

"On second thought... Swap Strength and Dead Master for these two..." Koko spoke to Lehm quietly after they'd returned to the SUV. "Something doesn't feel right about sending you two into the mountains. My gut's telling me Chen's not just the cheerful businessman that he's acting like."

"You think he's got some goons all up in an ambush, don't you?" Lehm started the engine and waited until they were all buckled in before reversing out of the parking space and driving back to the hotel.

"Worse. I think they're expecting you." Koko replied grimly.

"So why have us hang back? Jonah's former alpine infantry, he'd have a huge advantage with just that alone!" Rock indicated her partner with one hand, the other briefly indicated herself. "C'mon Koko, think about it... My bet is that Chen's grunt soldiers are mostly trained for city combat. Sure, he might have an officer that has wilderness training, but in general, his troops are out of their element. So if we put Jonah into _his_ element, with me for backup since I can leech his memories of all that training... They're... what's the word again... Oh, yeah... they're _fucked_."

"So you want to ambush their ambush, is that right?" Koko followed along with Rock's plan. "What about Strength and Dead Master?"

"Let's be honest... Dead Master will probably fall asleep at some point in the middle of your dinner date with Chen..." Rock smirked slightly at the chance to mock her ex and slightly tease Koko in the same sentence. "But Strength's like me... Back home, us warriors eat to keep ourselves going at full capacity. Mages like Dead Master sleep to do the same. So would you rather have someone clean their plate... or use it as a pillow?"

"I see your point." Koko nodded. "Very well, Ugo and Strength will accompany me during my dinner with Chen... Dead Master's going to need that sleep, because she's going to have some explaining to do about back home after I get back. I need more information about warriors and mages than just that, Princess."

"I'm not completely useless for that kind of information, y'know." Rock pouted slightly.

"I meant another perspective to the same topic." Koko smiled slightly at Rock being cute again. "You're a warrior, so I want to hear what a mage has to say. She just happens to be our resident mage, that's all."

" _And our emotional punching bag_." Jonah commented cheekily in Old Speak, earning a smile and an adorable little giggle from Rock.


	19. Chapter 19

"Alright, on this op we follow Jonah's lead. He's in charge." Lehm explained to the crew in the SUV, with R at the wheel as they drove along the road that Dr. Miami had mapped to her by the GPS co-ordinates.

Everyone nodded and gave affirmation vocally as they prepped their guns with white tape. They were all clad in snow camo, with white balaclava and toque's on to stave off the cold while still retaining a degree of snow camouflage capability. Rock and Valmet both had their long hair tied back and held secure beneath their headwear so neither of their black locks would stand out against the snow.

"Good, and you all got a look at Miami's picture too, right?" Lehm also held up the photo of Dr. Miami, which they all gave one last good look before he put it away. "Alright, once we find her car, we're proceeding on foot with Jonah on point. Copy?"

"Copy." Everyone chorused in unison, already steeling themselves for the cold outside the SUV's heated interior.

Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up alongside the Jeep that Miami was known to drive - that intel was from Koko herself - and geared up while Jonah took stock of his surroundings.

"Wind blew away their footprints, so we need to rely on the GPS. It's how she's been navigating, so we'll use that fact to our advantage." Jonah cradled his taped FNC against his snow camo parka. "But first, quick field fixes that need to be done."

"Field fixes?" Lehm had a rough idea Jonah meant improvised techniques of some kind.

"Our breathing can, and will, give away our positions. So a trick I learned is to have a bit of snow in your mouth, it pretty much makes the vapour cold enough not to be visible." Jonah indicated the wisps coming out of his balaclava. "Treat it like you're chewing a big piece of gum for as long as you can. If it melts away, just grab some more from the ground."

"Makes sense to me." Lehm chuckled as he crouched to grab a handful of snow, which everyone quickly followed suit and put some of the loose powder into their cheeks.

"Alright, one more thing. Sound travels, especially in the mountains. Keep your voice as low as you can, and keep all talking to a minimum." Jonah indicated his radio earpiece that was making his balaclava bulge very slightly. "Other than that, scan your sectors for anything unusual. Rock, you good on the memories?"

"Yeah, I got them." Rock opened her eyes, having been absorbing his alpine training memories the whole time. She also had her mouthful of snow, so she quickly fell into step beside him as they moved out.

* * *

"Lieutenant, our two scouts have reported back. They've found the woman's squad's vehicle alongside Dr. Miami's Jeep. Tracks are headed into the woods, but the wind's making them fade faster than we anticipated."

Karen Low, one of Chen's best soldiers and his personal assistant, was listening while she evaluated the edge on her custom bayonets for her GSR pistols.

"Are they using her GPS route?"

"Yes, ma'am. Our scouts are due to return in thirty minutes using the secondary route we've been mapped out."

"And Miami?"

"She's still continuing at her normal pace, she should reach the river in a little under an hour unless she makes any stops along the way. She is accompanied by her known bodyguard, Moko."

"An his armaments?"

"A Kalashnikov ma'am. Sidearm, if present, is unknown."

"Good." Karen slid her blades back into their respective sheaths on her belt. "Maintain current position until we can ascertain the arms dealer's squad's whereabouts along the GPS route."

"Understood."

* * *

Jonah checked the GPS route as they made their way through the woods. A particular part of the map caught his attention and he held up his closed fist to signal a halt, then crouched down while everyone did the same.

"Two scouts are tracking us, they're about 200 meters behind us." Jonah spoke quietly into his earpiece. "Stay hidden, the wind will clear our tracks by the time they reach us."

With that, they smoothly blended into the underbrush, laying over their weapons to conceal them as they wind blew snow over their backs.

As predicted, by the time the two scouts arrived, they were practically invisible to the untrained scouts. The two Chinese men were smart enough to stay low, but not quiet. Even more of a rookie mistake was that they were speaking English.

"Wind's picking up, we've pretty much lost their tracks by now." The first spoke to his partner, who had a GPS in his hands, scanning the route it displayed.

"They're definitely following the rigged route we set for Miami. I can guarantee that fact. Let's regroup with the others at the hill in the field, my balls feel like they're gonna freeze off."

"Yeah, you and me both." The first agreed as they unknowingly walked right between where Jonah and Rock were hiding. A mere four foot wide gap, and neither man touched them as they kept going, completely unaware of the hidden dangers they'd just passed through.

"Wait two minutes." Jonah's low voice reached their ears over the radio.

Everyone slowly counted the required time before Jonah emerged first, rising very slowly as he scanned the path the two scouts had taken. It wasn't the one they themselves were using.

"Clear, get up slowly into a crouch." Jonah instructed, and as he said, the rest of the crew rose from prone to crouched to evaluate the tidbit of intel they now had.

"How far is that hill they were talking about?" Rock asked quietly.

"Four hundred meters, if we take the GPS route." Tojo reported from his GPS unit. "But the way they went drops it to about 275, if we follow their tracks before they fade."

"What's the plan, Jonah?" Lehm asked, knowing the boy was evaluating what they knew.

"Rock was right, back at the expo. These grunt soldiers aren't trained for wilderness operations. So with that in mind, a gunfight's pretty much a given by now." Jonah explained. "What we need to do is scout that hill so we can counter whatever ambush they've set for us. My guess is that we're looking at a single squad, no more than eight grunts and an officer."

"So they've got one up on us... but we have the element of surprise." Lehm nodded slowly. "So you gonna go check the hill?"

"Yeah. Let's deviate from the GPS route by about fifty meters. Throw off their reliance on using the route itself to track us." Jonah pointed slightly deeper into the woods to the right. "We'll still follow it, but off-kilter."

"Copy that. You lead." They all agreed, and after a quick restock of snow to chew on, they were on the move, drifting through the snowy landscape like ghosts.

* * *

Koko, in an elegant black and lavender qi-pao, was completely relaxed in Chen's presence. Beside her was Strength, in a similar dress of a soft orange accented with white. Of course, Chen was in a casual suit and dress shirt. At the next table were Ugo and Chen's bodyguard, suited of course, but within easy reach should any assistance be necessary.

"Forgive my rudeness, Miss Heckmatyar, I was under the impression you only had two children." Chen was by no means being rude, and Koko smiled slightly at the subtle question hanging in the air.

"I'm fond of adoption. The two you met at the expo are actually my own. This is Sarah, she's my second oldest." Koko replied airily. "Four in all, my oldest is back at the hotel with the flu."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope it's not serious." Chen looked concerned for a brief moment, then smiled at Strength - 'Sarah' to him - and respectfully bowed his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sarah."

Strength likewise lowered her head in a bow. "Thank you sir, it is likewise an honour to invite us to dinner this evening."

* * *

Down in the general seating tables of the restaurant, Scarecrow and his assistant Schokolade were eavesdropping on the VIP room where Koko and Chen were dining via some bugging devices that Schokolade had planted before the two groups arrived. Scarecrow, in a cheap but well fitted suit, wasn't impressed by the oh-so-casual chatter between the arms dealer and the so-called businessman.

"So the woman's not as heartless as I'd thought." Scarecrow resisted the urge to heave a sigh. "That explains the high end department store shopping sprees she's been doing in London over the past few months."

"Her daughter's super cute too." Schokolade added as she blew cool air onto her noodles pinched in her chopsticks. "And from what I saw in the intel pictures, her only son, Jonah, he's a major hottie. Daddy must've really turned some heads before Koko got her hands on him."

"No records of her ever getting married, and any intel we'd glean about her pregnancies is both worthless and a waste of time. Two kids are hers, two aren't. Not a difficult fact to trace." Scarecrow's intel on Koko wasn't as in-depth as he'd have liked, and even for a CIA spook like himself, there were some bits of intel that were off limits on the morality spectrum. "So now what? Just let them drone on about boring crap? She's a freaking arms dealer, he's posing like some poster boy of a businessman. There's gotta be some reason he invited her out for dinner like this."

"There's always the possibility he simply wants in her pants, y'know." Schokolade pointed out. "Might actually just be a date, if you think about it."

"We won't know that until everything's said and done." Scarecrow replied, idly musing that Koko was actually attractive enough to garner such a casual dinner date instead of some conspiracy meeting. She wasn't his type, honestly, but she was easy on the eyes at least.

* * *

Jonah smirked behind his balaclava, easily counting a total of eight soldiers situated in shallow foxholes in the snow atop the respectably sized hill at the middle of an open field. All were dressed in snow camo, spotted with tiny flecks of brown and pale green to simulate pine needles. The only one he couldn't see from his hidden position a few meters away from the treeline was the supposed officer. If he had to guess, the officer was dressed at least a little differently so the grunts could better identify them in the light snowfall.

Withdrawing with ease, Jonah made his way back to where the rest of the crew were lying in a patch of berry bushes that were hardy enough to retain their leaves despite the cold. He arrived without a sound, only drawing Rock's attention - which signaled his arrival for the others - as he finally spoke in the same low voice they'd all used since arriving.

"Eight grunts, set up in two-man foxholes at the top of the hill. They're positioned with a snow pile for cover, probably with some dirt packed underneath to catch our bullets. All four of these holes are positioned in a high-ground advantage by the pine tree, facing that way." He pointed to the true GPS route's exit from the treeline, fifty meters away. "From here, I say we move in sets of four, splitting up for a pincer attack on their flanks."

"Alright, so what's our configuration?" Lehm, armed with his Remington 700 sniper rifle, was already getting a mental map of the plan.

"You and Lutz are using your rifles, so hang back in the trees somewhere you can get a clear line of sight on the hill. Keep your lens caps on the scopes until I give the go-ahead. If it glints at the wrong time it'll ruin our chances." Jonah explained. "I'll go with R and Tojo, while Rock takes the other flank with Valmet and Mao. They're expecting us to stay on the GPS route, so it isn't likely that they've considered a possible flanking approach. They assume we're clueless to the whole thing."

"Alright, you heard him. Oh... and don't forget our bet, Princess." Lehm chuckled as Rock clicked her shotgun's safety off with her thumb. "Ten buck is on the line, and I presume you want it in British pounds for when we head back to England?"

"That's right." Rock winked at him before putting her hand onto the side of Jonah's face, staring into his eyes for a moment. Then he nodded without a word before she gestured for Valmet and Mao to follow her.

"Wait for my signal after Lehm and Lutz are in position." Jonah spoke into his radio as he also gestured for R and Tojo to join him. "Copy?"

"Copy that."

* * *

"A most excellent wine, I must say." Koko knew she wasn't going to be drinking more than the one glass of wine, so she took her time to sip and savour it.

"I'm glad I chose one to your liking." Chen, holding a cigar in his hand, smiled at the compliment. "I'd like to share a bottle with your elder brother sometime."

Koko knew he'd slipped up with that comment, but played it in stride as she smiled at the opportunity to make fun of her brother. "Not as enticing of an experience as you'd expect. He prefers junk food over fine dining, not that we don't all crave the occasional burger and fries."

At the other table, Chen's bodyguard accidentally crushed his chopsticks, but the sound was muffled by Chen's laugh in reply to Koko's comment.

* * *

"Bingo." Scarecrow grinned as he heard Chen's slip of the tongue. "Now that they've had some wine, they're starting to talk about the juicy stuff."

"It's not exactly a scarce detail that Koko's twins with Kaspar." Schokolade commented. "And Koko's got one of her kids with her, so for one, she's not gonna get drunk. And two, Chen probably censored that comment because Sarah's present. If she wasn't here, I highly doubt he'd have said it the exact same way."

"What? You're making it sound like Koko's planned this in advance. He asked her out at the expo this morning, there's no way she's got something up her sleeve in what..." Scarecrow checked his watch. "Seven hours. Most of which was spent getting herself and the girl all dolled up for dinner."

"You clearly don't understand the mind of a woman, let alone a woman of Koko's caliber." Schokolade smirked at the scowl that formed on Scarecrow's face for her jab. "Women think about more things at any given time than a guy like you could even comprehend. And on top of that, she's got four freakin' kids. If she's not even the slightest bit concerned about her oldest's flu... or even about her son and her youngest daughter right now, then I'm a freakin' brain-dead goldfish."

* * *

"Alright, I'm good from here. Lutz, how about you?" Lehm spoke into the radio as he slowly laid in the snow beside a sturdy tree to use as cover.

"I'm set. Ready on your signal, Jonah." Lutz with his R93 was of a similar setup near a tree to hide behind.

"Rock, you set?"

"Yup, we're good over here. Just say the word." Rock replied after receiving nods from Valmet and Mao.

"Alright, all set. We're going for a hard and fast take down. If we can capture their officer, that'd be good on our part. Otherwise we're just mopping up and moving on." Jonah spoke into the radio. "Attack now."

With that, they were on the move, and both Lehm and Lutz popped their lens caps off and lined up their first shots for a moment, calculating the wind's influence before both rifles rended the cold mountain air with powerful, sharp cracks.

Two of the grunt soldiers immediately dropped dead with headshots, leaving the rest to scour their surroundings for the team of soldiers that they were set to ambush.

"LIEUTENANT! IT'S THEM!" One managed to call out, pointing at the blurs of movement charging at them from the treeline.

With their set line of foxholes facing another direction, the men stood, crouched and laid prone so that they wouldn't shoot each other in the back, only for a shotgun blast to go off right behind their awkward line, making some turn to see another soldier, clearly shorter than the two behind them, already wrenching the pump shotgun to rechamber a shell after claiming a kill on their rearmost soldier.

Bullets from the others, now from both sides, began whizzing through the air, trapping them almost on top of each other as Karen charged at the small soldier with the shotgun, her pistol bayonets already mounted to her GSR's for close combat.

Hoping to take the small soldier by surprise proved wrong, however, as they jumped several feet over Karen's head with acrobatic grace, turning in mid-jump to expertly land behind her with a strange blue glow in one hand.

That glow turned out to be a sword, which flashed through the air with lightning fast reflexes to perform a crippling strike to Karen's thigh, then swung the shotgun itself against her back to knock her down, unconcerned by the grunt soldiers getting practically executed in rapid succession behind her.

"Got the officer. Female, she's down with a leg wound." The small soldier, a young French girl it seemed, quickly snatched up Karen's sidearms and threw them aside. "All clear for the others."

Karen, from the snowy ground, could see the traces of the radio earpiece under her headwear, so concluded that she was speaking to the leader of her unit among the other soldiers that were quickly gathered around them.

"Hang on..." Another female, with an eyepatch visible in the eye gap of her balaclava, spoke up from where her guns were tossed. "I know these..." She crouched to pick up one of the GSR's by the grip. "Shit..."

"Not now... We have a witness." The French girl spoke up, poking the end of her shotgun's barrel against Karen's bicep with one hand, the other somehow making the sword vanish in the same flicker of blue light.

"You work for Chen, don't you?" Another smaller soldier, a boy with a low monotone voice stood over Karen, his eyes a brilliant scarlet.

"How did you know where we were?"

"I'm asking the questions here." The boy countered. "Chen. Gouming Chen, of the Daxinghai Trading Company. Is he... Your boss? Yes... or no?"

"Yes."

"Good." The boy unholstered his sidearm and quickly shot her in the chest. "Let's go. By the time Chen sends someone to find them, she'll be frozen over or have bled out."

"Copy that." Everyone, unaffected by the almost certain death sentence he'd given her, quickly fell into rank as they moved back on course with the GPS route that they knew Miami was still following. Now all that they had to do was ignore the cold and keep walking.


	20. Chapter 20

Both Koko's and Chen's phones rang at almost the same time, so Chen politely passed it over to his bodyguard, who stepped out to take the call, while Koko - with a nod of permission from Chen - quickly answered hers. It was Rock on the line.

"Put Strength on the phone so I can talk to her in Old Speak, I know you're still with Chen."

"Sure thing." Koko replied, then presented the phone to Strength. "It's your sister, she wants to speak to you."

Strength accepted the device and held it to her ear. Rock heard the rustle of it pressing to her ear and began speaking in Old Speak.

" _Since Chen's still there, I'll make it quick. We've dealt with his troops and are on our way to secure Miami now. When they ask why I called, tell them our old lie for when we would sneak out of my chambers in the palace_."

"Okay, thanks." Strength of course knew the one she was talking about, it fit perfectly in this situation. She hung up and returned the phone to Koko. "She finished cleaning our hotel room, she wanted to let me know where she put my stuff." She explained to Koko, who nodded in reply.

"That girl..." She shook her head slightly, her tone amused as she returned her phone to her purse. "It took her almost four hours to clean up after herself. At least she had the sense to tell you where she put your bag."

"I presume that was your youngest daughter?" Chen asked with a smile.

"Yes, that's right. She's in a bit of hot water right now, how she managed to make one hotel room into such a disaster of a mess is beyond me." Koko replied for a moment before standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I require the restroom. Sarah, stay here with Ugo. I'll be right back."

* * *

Without any hindrances to delay them, the crew made record time in reaching the valley that Miami was headed for. After a short search, they found her and Moko unharmed and surrounded by butterflies of all the colours of the rainbow.

"Doctor Miami, pardon the sudden arrival, Koko wanted us to make sure you were alright after you missed the expo this morning." Lehm, now back in charge of the crew, calmly approached the kooky scientist as he spoke to her.

"Hey there, Lehm... I heard gunfire earlier, did something happen?" Miami stopped her excited net swinging to address the now uncovered bodyguard.

"More or less." Lehm replied with his signature dry chuckle.

* * *

After a slightly traumatizing encounter with Koko in the bathroom - Scarecrow wanted her to follow Koko there in case she tried to make a more tactical call than one for her daughter's apparent punishments - Schokolade delivered Koko's message to Scarecrow before resuming eating. Scarecrow growled in frustration at being caught so easily by the arms dealer.

While he was silently glowering in consideration of her words, Schokolade smirked as she said. "She's got four kids, Scarecrow. I'm surprised she lead us to believe she didn't notice for as long as she did. When I was a kid, my mom came after me like a freight train when she caught me misbehaving. Mothers are some of the hardest people to hide things from, y'know."

"So now that we know Chen's got a trap in mind, what do we do now?" Scarecrow couldn't figure out how to get out of Chinatown alive.

"What, are you _that_ stupid?!" Schokolade laughed for a moment before turning stone cold serious. "We take her offer and trust her. She's called in a chopper to fly us out of here. One time deal from her, in exchange that we stop bugging their meal."

"Fuck, fine!" Scarecrow rolled his eyes and pulled out his earpiece. "This whole shitshow barely had anything of value anyway. Just a fucking dinner date."

"Oh, _now_ you clue into the obvious." Schokolade also removed her earpiece with a cheeky smirk at Scarecrow's seething anger. "It was _just_ a dinner date. Nothing to report to HQ."

* * *

"My apologies, it's getting late, and we should be going now." Koko returned from the restroom with a calm attitude, noticing that Chen was quite annoyed by something as he smoked his cigar - exhaling the smoke away from Strength, of course - in a testy silence.

With a nod of understanding, Chen rose to his feet with the assistance of his cane, bowing his head in respect. "I'm sure you understand if I don't see you out." He was of course indicating his cane, even though Koko already knew he'd planned an ambush outside in the street.

"Of course, I understand, Mr. Chen." Koko and Strength returned the bow and left the VIP room with Ugo already using his bulk to bodyblock them from behind in case Chen decided to get his hands dirty.

"She wasn't calling about the cleaning... was she?" Ugo asked after they heard Chen break something - likely his cane - from inside the VIP room.

"Nope." Strength replied, a small smile tugging at her lips as they approached the two spooks that had been eavesdropping the whole time.

Before they reached the glass fronted entrance, a helicopter - a prototype of the Super Hind MK-5 - quickly and efficiently landed in the parking lot, barely populated by vehicles.

"We'll have the sedan picked up in the morning by a local associate. Can't lose such a costly investment." Koko commented as they passed their armoured sedan and climbed into the helicopter with the two Americans, neither of whom needed to say anything as they were quickly airborne - Strength very aware of the fact and quite worried, as expected - before they were swiftly on their way through the sky back to a mutually agreed drop off point for the two groups involved.

* * *

After reassembling the crew around 11:30 that night, it was mutually agreed that they'd all be needing a hot meal after half a day in the snowy mountains. So they stopped at the hotel to retrieve fresh clothes, a very excitable Roxy and a freshly napped Dead Master before making their way to a burger joint in Port Elizabeth for a very late dinner. Koko of course had eaten lightly, while Strength had her warrior's metabolism - combined with being a growing teenager - so they were both more than happy to join the others in the greasy burgers, salty fries and sugary soft drinks. A very welcome reward to call an end to their - surprisingly busy - last day in South Africa before flying back home, allowing the Atlas to sail back to home port without them.

* * *

The next day, at the airport, after Rock flashed her documents for Roxy and breezed through security, it was Strength's turn to experience airport security for the first time.

With Rock's own advice in mind, Strength only had her documents and Rubik's Cube on her, making abundantly certain that she didn't have any metal items on her that might set off the metal detectors. Behind her was Jonah, as calm as ever.

"Next." The guard gestured for her to pass through after she'd emptied her dress' pockets, one side with her toy, the other with her passport and plane ticket. "Ticket please."

She handed it over and he checked it with a nod before indicating that she pass through the frame of the detector.

For what it was worth, she was more frightened by the idea of flying than the metal detector, making her hesitate nervously before the guard smiled at her, knowing a first time flyer when he saw one.

"It's alright, miss, nothing to be afraid of. I remember my first time on a plane." With a gentle hand he presented her with the handheld version of the metal detector. "See this? It's a smaller version of the big one behind me. It's like a big magnet, but it makes noise instead of sticking to metal. Rules are rules, so I need to make sure you don't have any metal on you. Don't worry, this isn't scary. May I?" He was still keeping her at ease, letting her nod of her own free will. "Okay, arms up like this please." He demonstrated how she had to hold up her arms, which were unadorned by anything. All she had in hand was her toy and paperwork. "Perfect, just like that."

With careful, steady movements, he passed the detector down from the top of her head down to her feet, and the device remained silent the whole time. "Now the back. Turn around please, arms up."

Strength did as she was instructed, still quite nervous as the man repeated the process behind her back with the same careful movements. Thankfully her dress lacked a zipper, so once again it was silent as he smiled at her. "Very good, you're all clear. Just head on through, and enjoy your first flight."

With that, Strength was through security and met up with Rock on a nearby bench to wait for Jonah, who stopped short of the detector and held up his arms.

"I've got a bullet in my butt cheek. Go ahead and check for yourself." The bored tone he had gave away the fact that he'd experienced trouble with security many times before. That same guard that eased Strength into her comfort zone smiled slightly at the girl's brother - in his eyes, at least - so calmly declaring the metal in his backside.

"Sorry to hear about that, son. Turn around please." The guard of course had the handheld detector at the ready, passing it down Jonah's back until it went off - as declared - on his ass. "Alright, I understand. Go on through and join your sister." The guard motioned for him to go on through after tapping at his nearby terminal to disable the detector for ten seconds so it didn't go off when he passed.

Valmet was next in line, but before she stepped forward, a man behind her started grumbling. "Kids these days, if it's a bunch of kids holding up the line, it's their damn parents fault... Tch. Honestly..."

Quick as a flash Valmet grabbed the man's entire face in her long fingers, dropping him to one knee with a cruel gleam in her eye. "I'll have you know that those kids you're talking about have seen some shit that would make your stomach curl. So need I remind you that anyone in a wheelchair gets to skip the entire line and pass through security unstopped. I'll gladly arrange that privilege for you..."

" _VALMET!_ " Koko, who had already been cleared before Rock, came hurrying back after seeing the tall Finnish woman's sudden movements. "THAT'S _ENOUGH!_ "

Beside her was Lehm, who was having a hearty laugh at the man's expense. Koko wasn't amused. "What the hell, Lehm?! Why aren't you stopping her?!"

"I dunno, 'cause it's fuckin' funny?" Lehm's smartass reply wasn't appreciated, but Valmet released the man of her own free will and glared at him for a moment. That same guard, having heard everything, understood why the woman said and did what she had. Of course, he did his job quickly and without comment as the large family gathered together beyond his post, all headed for their plane.

"Sweet Jesus! _Why?!_ Why can't we have a nice, simple and _quiet_ security clearance at an airport?!" Even from the gate he heard the pale, white haired woman's angry ranting at the tall woman for her antics. "And don't even get me _started_ on that goddamn bullet fragment that's lodged inside your ass, Jonathan Mar!"


	21. Chapter 21

"After seeing those fools try and ambush us without any alpine combat experience, I've decided on an unorthodox training session for today." Lehm, with a lit cigarette pinched at the side of his lips, addressed the whole crew at the firing range at home in England the day after they'd returned - once again, Rock's dislike of flying kept her awake on the plane, so she passed out while driving home from the airport - while he held two objects in his hands. One was a small Union Jack flag, the other... an M4 styled paintball gun, fully loaded of course.

"I take it the two of us are exempt?" Jonah indicated Rock, who had, for lack of a better term, copy-pasted his memories of all his alpine infantry training.

"Not exactly." Lehm shook his head. "You two are the ones that'll be training the rest of us. That includes Strength and Dead Master." Lehm glanced at the two girls for a moment before going into full detail. "We'll be working as a team against the two of you. Our objective is to capture this flag. Our area of operation is the back forest on the property." Lehm indicated the sizable forestry a short jog away from the range. "And we'll all be using these paintball guns. They're high pressure, so you'll know it when you get nailed by one."

"But Strength's never had gun experience." Dead Master spoke up.

"Paintball guns are a good start. Unlike your first encounter with them..." Koko couldn't resist teasing Dead Master from her chair nearby. "Strength, we'll start with this exercise for today, after that we'll start moving you up to other guns whenever we're here at home. Sound fair?"

"I see no problem with this." Strength shrugged. "Dare I ask what her first encounter was like?"

"She pissed Jonah off. We'll leave it at that." Koko replied, already aware of Dead Master's averted gaze and reddening cheeks.

* * *

Half an hour later, everyone over the age of sixteen except for Koko - who wasn't needed outside anymore and went back to the house - was armed with a paintball gun and had goggles over their eyes, making their way through the greenery in search of wherever the two youngest had planted the red, blue and white flag. Lehm was of course team leader, directing their search with hand signals - simple ones since Strength and Dead Master didn't know proper military ones yet - as they kept their eyes peeled for the Lifelinked pair.

Every little sound, every flicker of movement was checked. Jonah with his alpine experience, and Rock with her agility made for a deadly game of cat & mouse to the older members of the crew. Lehm and Ugo, being the largest of them all, were especially aware of their size that day, which made them easy targets for the still unseen kids.

Suddenly a branch whipped Lutz right in the ass, making him jump in pain as he grabbed at the stinging spot, only to put his hand on something wet. He brought his hand into view and realized that the back of his pants were splattered with obnoxiously pink paint.

"Shit." Lutz knew he was out of the session thanks to the clever trap. "Jonah didn't say anything about laying traps." He grumbled to himself as he slung his paintball gun over his shoulder and turned to leave the way they came, which was the firing range, where they had to wait until they either got the flag, got shot, or got the kids.

"If that's the case, there's bound to be more of them." Valmet whispered quietly to Lehm while scanning their surroundings for the two kids. "I didn't even see that one until Lutz grabbed his ass."

"Clever little shits, aren't they?" Lehm replied, carefully peering around the tree he was hiding at. A pro would set it and forget it. A hunter would watch it from afar... but these two... they knew what they were doing because they'd been secretly evaluating the rest of them during the mountain operation. "They're playing at our individual weaknesses."

"So what now?" R asked from behind a bush.

"Keep low, keep quiet, keep going." Lehm replied, taking point but moving very slowly and avoiding any suspicious spots in the leaves and grasses.

Even with their respective statuses as elite soldiers of the world, they all fell victim to Rock and Jonah's expertly placed traps, teamwork hit & run attacks and worst of all... the decoys and mind games.

The last one standing was Strength. She'd gotten a good look at where the pair had placed the little flag, but after their last hit & run attack she'd gotten herself lost during her escape before they'd disengaged and vanished once more. Now she understood what a lack of battlefield experience would cost a soldier. She was lost, outnumbered, and alone, plus her foes knew the area and had more than a few traps and decoys in place after a mere half hour of preparation. But, with her own rigid training keeping her calm, Strength had one advantage that the other adults lacked... Her size.

The only reason she was still in the running was because of how small a target she was. Although not as fast as Rock was, she was still much faster than the adults and rather frail Dead Master.

So, combining that speed with her tiny frame, she narrowly avoided shots from both Jonah and Rock several times. And now, alone in the quiet of the trees, she was hypertense for even the slightest hint of their presence. She stayed lower than the bushes, and moved carefully to avoid any of Jonah's whipping branch traps, several of which she'd found already. He was good, that's for sure.

A bird chirped nearby, making her bring the gun to bear suddenly, which caused the small creature to panic from the sudden movement. She let out a held-in breath as she lowered the gun and turned back the way she'd originally been sneaking...

Only to come intimately close to the barrel of Jonah's paintball gun.

"The bird gave you away." Jonah smirked as Strength accepted defeat and held up her hands, one only holding the paintball gun by the foregrip. "If you hadn't gotten so tense and panicked, I would've missed you."

SPLAT!

Strengh yelped at the stinging pain that hit her bare skin in the gap between her stocking and the hem of her dress. Rock dropped down from a nearby tree branch with her gun resting over her shoulder.

"I get that she was the last one, but you were talking for too long, babe." Rock smirked as she approached her boyfriend and gave him a kiss. "I figured out how she was moving below the underbrush and messed with some of those little traps of yours so they'd be more obvious. Almost found a few of them the hard way, you sneaky, sneaky boy."

* * *

"Huh... Well that's unusual, even by my standards." Koko commented as she lowered her phone after a new contract was arranged for her to deliver some experimental tech for an American company, of all things. Her comment was of course heard by the crew as they returned from their training exercises.

"Something the matter, Koko?" Lehm asked, sporting pink paint splatter on his shoulder - thanks to Rock's superior agility getting the best of him - while another two blue splatters covered his stomach, which were from accidentally setting off one of Jonah's damned traps on his way back to the range.

"When you were still back in the States, did you ever hear about a pharmaceutical company called the Umbrella Corporation?" Koko asked, since despite her vast attention to detail, she'd never really delved into the medical field unless one of her crew was wounded while protecting her.

"Back then they were just a medical research company, not internationally known, but they were popular all over America. I figure by now that they've expanded immensely." Lehm shrugged, because like Koko, he didn't really give the medical field much concern save for getting shot on the job and getting himself patched up to come right back home where a glass of whiskey and a warm bed waited for him. He was old school when it came to doctor's.

"Well, get this... They've partnered with DARPA and a US-based PMC called Atlas to develop some prototype mobility suit they're calling an XOS-3 Exosuit. They've agreed to send a representative to meet with us tomorrow in London." Koko explained. "HCLI's been contracted to sell them, and I already have an issue with it."

"Go on..." Lehm could tell Koko had more to say on the matter, despite the obvious; these prototype suits were a risky product to sell. Sure they were new, but from vaccuum cleaners to bombers, anyone trying to sell a product without reliable results was a fool. Never sell something unknown.

"They didn't know about the contract we have for the drones. Their meeting is a tight fit in our morning schedule, and that's discounting any possible hiccups on both ours and that rep's parts. Like traffic."

"Did you give it to them straight?" Lehm knew Koko wouldn't just buckle under the pressure so easily.

"Believe me, they chose their representative 'for a reason' as they claimed. Said even their schedule was tight, so it was the only time that was even possible for both of us."

"So what's the plan?" Lehm asked, getting the idea, but asking merely as a formal confirmation.

"We haul ass tomorrow morning and hope for the best." Koko replied. "Oh, and while we're in London, the contractor I hired to expand the house is going to be here. Strength can't be stuck sleeping on the couch forever, y'know." Koko smiled at the small girl effortlessly working at her Rubik's Cube at the large dining table. "Same guy I've hired for years, he knows the place. And that means he's trustworthy."

* * *

Luck seemed to be on their side the following morning. They arrived in record time for the meeting with the Umbrella Corporation's representative, Valmet and Jonah joining Koko, while Rock stayed in the sedan with a surprise upset stomach.

Inside the office building, the trio were lead to the boardroom by an intern, where they were greeted by the sight of a very unusual young man staring out the large window.

Easily over six feet tall with silver hair that seemed to glitter in the sunlight, he was dressed in an all black designer suit, shirt and tie combination, his strong, sharp features gave Koko a strong Slavic impression, but as he turned to face them, it revealed the black eyepatch over his left eye, around which were severe burn scars.

"Koko Heckmatyar of HCLI?" As expected, he was Russian, his accent far thicker than Kloshkin's back in Brussels ages ago.

"That would be me. Are you the representative from the Umbrella Corporation?"

"Captain Tobias Darkwood, yes. A pleasure to meet you." The young Russian extended his hand across the table for her to shake, which she did, noting his firm grip but oddly cold body temperature. "Please, sit. I am aware time is of the essence for you, so I shall make things brief."

"Of course, Captain." Koko sat across from him, noting that the young soldier had not one, but two shadows under his suit jacket hinting at the sidearms concealed quite cleverly underneath. "I believe I initially spoke with one... Albert Wesker?"

"That is correct. Chairman Wesker is the one that likewise informed me of this meeting." Captain Darkwood smiled, his brilliantly icy blue eye crinkling with the smile as he tapped a nearby tablet to bring it to life. "Now then... the XOS-3 Exosuits, the short version of their concept is mobility assistance and enhancement. Make a soldier jump higher, move faster, age old issues in the military. I have here a demonstration video that Atlas provided to us alongside the initial shipment of a thousand units. It's two minutes long, quite brief." He slid the device towards Koko, and she tapped the play command.

The backpack-like body of the strange suit was adorned with thin, spindly extensions that were then linked to the soldier's wrists, with a metal glove-like extension adorning the back of their hand to their fingertips. The leg segments clasped around the bottoms of his boots and locked back onto the frame. Of course it looked goofy, but the next thing that the soldier did was crouch low in preparation to jump, then rocketed about fifteen feet up onto a nearby scaffolding, grabbing a railing and effortlessly vaulted over, then performed a running leap across a gap to another scaffold of similar span apart. Then they slid on their knees under a vertical plywood board and jumped back down to the ground without hesitating. They landed with ease, from a height that would've easily broken their legs without the Exosuit. The video ended with the soldier performing a crisp salute to the camera.

"And these are still in the prototype phase?" Koko recalled Chairman Wesker's choice of wording during their phone call the day before.

"It's my impression that the XOS-3 is actually a baseline model. Atlas and DARPA likely intend to offer advanced modules or specialty designs in the future. As it stands, they're offering the starting platform. Testing the waters, if you will." The young Captain indicated the tablet with his hand. "I personally find the design aesthetics absolutely horrible. However, their functionality serves better merit than visual appeal."

"They look like a giant metal beetle stuck to his back." Jonah suddenly commented, earning a slight chuckle from the Russian.

"Little guy, you couldn't have described them any better than that." Captain Darkwood smiled. "Now then... Miss Heckmatyar, would you be willing to offer these Exosuits onto the world market? I was informed your various connections may offer proper channels beyond just your direct contacts themselves."

"Two questions, Captain..." Koko leaned her forearms onto the edge of the table, a telling sign for Valmet and Jonah, but the Captain was none the wiser. "What would you personally change on these Exosuits, given the chance?"

"I'd alter the physical structure to resemble and function as armour, likely including some form of head protection, if at all possible. I find the barebones design of the XOS-3 rather lacking. Granted, what it offers is mobility, not protection. As such, it merely delays the inevitable fact during a firefight, and that's getting shot. My counter concept would combine agility with defense, thus prolonging a soldier's survival in battle while still retaining the increased movement capabilities offered by the Exosuit platform."

"That's very eloquently worded." Koko was impressed by his solution, which also dealt with how visually unattractive the Exosuits were. "Now, my second question... How old are you? You seem surprisingly young, I thought I should ask."

"I am eighteen, Miss Heckmatyar." The Captain smiled. "My mother is Director of Security at the Umbrella Corporation, her influence is why I bear the rank of Captain at such a young age. With it also comes higher expectations from my fellow soldiers as well as the Board of Directors as a whole. Not just from her."

* * *

 **A/N: This is a nod to the biplay that myself and How-Not-To-Do-Something for our stories, Silence and Lost In Transition, respectively. No, Tobias is not planned to make another appearance. No, there are no Ghouls, nor T-Virus. Just a cameo reference to the original take on this story and mine and HNTDS' shenanigans.**


	22. Chapter 22

For a majority of the day, Koko was at the Country B Embassy with Valmet and Tojo. Rock's upset stomach had her feeling far too sick to be at the event, so Tojo swapped out for them with Ugo giving him a ride to the Embassy. Ugo then brought the two kids back home, making sure that Rock had what she needed after being put to bed. Jonah agreed to keep an eye on her for the day, letting Ugo return to his work on the pickup truck, which was having a few engine issues.

Meanwhile, most of the others were meeting with representatives that Koko had messaged them all to speak to for the UAV drone deal. However, the Exosuits were on her hands - the 1000 units that Captain Darkwood mentioned were now stored at a secured HCLI warehouse in London - since they required her exceptional business savvy to even hope for a chance at landing a deal.

Of course, she was keeping them posted as the event continued. So they were more than just a little bit tired by the end of the first day for the debates. Unfortunately, Koko returned home with a throbbing headache after a tabloid apparently tried to do her dirty by writing about some of her clever footwork during the opening proceedings with her competition, Amalia Torahovski.

"That woman... She's a wildcard, that's for sure." Koko, finally free of the day's business dealings, tugged her tie away from her throat as she smelled the hardy chicken and vegetable soup that Jonah was preparing from scratch for dinner. A two-fold dish, since Rock was sick, but also making a large enough amount to feed them all. "How's Rock doing?" She asked as she breezed into the kitchen to find Jonah checking his phone - which had the soup preparation recipe - for the last few details to the dish.

"It's not too bad, I know everything she's eaten for the past week, so I've managed to figure out that she's got the flu. It's not a stomach bug like we thought this morning."

"She's sleeping, I presume?" Koko asked, well aware that Jonah made sure of that, even before asking.

"She's been taking naps, on and off. She was reading when I last saw her awake."

"Alright, that's good to hear." Koko, now able to relax completely, let out a well deserved sigh. "She's in good hands, so I should at least be able to focus on all the American hardware I'm selling without having to worry about her."

"You mean there's more of those suits?" Jonah asked, remembering the meeting with Captain Darkwood that morning.

"The specific model of UAV's that I'm offering for sale in this deal are Predator's. Made by the US. Those Exosuits are just a bunch of private companies pooling resources on an innovative, but very risky product for the military to try out."

"Will you be able to sell either of them?" Jonah asked, turning the heat off on the stove and removing the heavy pot of soup from the element. He already had a bowl out for Rock, who wouldn't be joining them at the table for obvious reasons.

"The drones, that's gonna be quite easy... the suits, I need to play my cards right. Thankfully the suits aren't under a time limit of any kind, so I can freely cast my net farther and wider to score a potential business meeting for them."

"I still think they made those suits look like a big metal beetle." Jonah replied, carrying the bowl to the stairs with a spoon already in the bowl so that Rock could at least have access to food.

"I think that armour idea Captain Darkwood would've done for his version is a much better product, with greater selling potential. Why sell an ugly bug when you can change the very foundation of any firefight with a suit of armour that enhances a soldier's mobility?"

* * *

The next day was mostly spent at home for Koko. Aside from the UAV debate having today set for deliberations between the respective groups involved, Koko was staying home because she was of course, the legal guardian of Rock, Jonah, Strength and Dead Master. That meant she had to master the very motherly skill of running a household while still plowing through her job.

Thankfully, the crew as a whole were at her side to help at a moment's notice. Her children, of course, had the sense to keep their interruptions to a minimum, letting her work at her laptop and the occasional call to HQ or - a slightly surprising new contact - one of the two CIA spooks that had been in South Africa during her dinner with Chen. The blonde woman, Schokolade.

The busty American technician was currently in Berlin working for Koko on the UAV deal, having been coerced by Koko with one of the diamonds that she'd received as payment for the VL-Mica missile deal before everything with Chen happened.

Aside from over two dozen emails, some with attached pictures, documents or mere messages themselves, Koko kept up the flurry of activity at her computer, only snacking on a bag of potato chips and a chocolate bar the entire time.

Strength wandered by her in the living room, and Koko looked up for a moment at her faint stocking-clad footfalls. "Sarah, can you grab me a bottle of water from the fridge please?"

Strength knew that Koko called her by her actual name when in familiar company. So for her to use the fake name she had meant something was up.

With a nod, Strength did just that, handing over two since she could tell Koko was going to be busy.

"Is your brother still upstairs with Blake?" Koko resumed her manic typing after taking a long drink from the bottle and setting it down beside her snacks.

"I think so. Have you seen my Rubik's Cube?" Strength, so known for the toy, actually had it in her pocket at that moment, but knew an act when she saw one.

"You had it before lunch, right? The last place I saw it was when we were eating." Koko gave a small nod of approval for Strength catching onto her ruse. "Have you checked the kitchen?"

"No." Strength wandered away, and - for good measure - moved a few things around with one hand, the other sliding it out of her dress pocket. "Found it!"

With her toy in hand, Strength was free to wander away, clicking and clacking with rapid twists of the multi-coloured cube.

Koko was pleased by the ruse, since she could see a drone that belonged to EuroGroup hovering over the house in the glare on her laptop screen from the front window behind her. If it didn't have the capability to eavesdrop or hone in on her laptop's incoming and outgoing signals, then she would retire from the arms trade by dinnertime.

* * *

She was right. The short auditory exchange was indeed picked up by the surveillance drone, and transmitted to the relay van parked down the road, under the guise of having stalled out for any passing motorists. From the back of the van, two technicians then sent the recording to Amalia, added to the slew of 28 confirmed emails that Koko was sending. Sadly, their setup lacked decryption capabilities, but they did manage to sneak onto the woman's property the night before and hid a phone tap on the landline. Koko happened to be using the landline for today, rewarding their brazen idea greatly.

So, two emails and a quick check-in chat with her son about her ill daughter later, they picked up the sound of the keypad beeps for her dialing a number. Of course they were already recording her idle humming as the person on the other end finally picked up.

"Hey, Koko, how're things?" The woman on the other end sounded American to the technicians, clearly out in the street somewhere with a din of chatter and traffic in the background.

"Blake's still sick, Jonah's been keeping an eye on her. And my deal for selling the Predator drones isn't going as well as I'd hoped." Koko replied, draping her arm across the back of the couch in the drone video feed, her laptop screen tilting slightly on her lap. "I was just calling to see if I could vent a bit, I'm getting sick of all these damned dead ends."

"Sure thing, lay it on me. Gimme all the juicy details!" The American woman, a friend of some kind, was keenly interested and almost sounded like a gossiping teenager as the conversation shifted to Koko legitimately vented her frustrations about the whole UAV deal.

Fifteen minutes later, Koko seemed to be relieved with the successful destressing vent to her friend, and of course the whole conversation turned casual, with the American venting for herself about a man named Jerry. It appeared that the two women knew the man, so aside from the American's frustrations with his rough-edged personality, they had no information about his relevance to either of them, but guessed that the American was in some kind of relationship with him. They made note of the speculation, but continued listening to the women talking.

More casual chit chat, then the friend posed a question that made them refocus to the tapped line.

"So, I gotta ask, if the whole deal with those drones is going south, what the hell are you gonna do to keep it all from blowing up in your face?"

"Honestly, unless I pull a miracle out of my hat, I think it's a done deal. If I try to keep holding on, it won't do me any good. Do you think I should pull out of the debate entirely?"

"I say give it one more shot. If you miss, so be it. Can't say you didn't pull the trigger, right?"

Koko laughed at the ironic metaphor. "Y'know, I think I will. Here's hoping I don't forget to take off the safety too!"

"Alright, talk to you soon. Take care." The American hung up, and Koko likewise ended the call before returning to her computer with the same intensity as before.

* * *

After listening to the entire phone conversation herself, Amalia smiled slightly at the glimpses of the much younger arms dealer's personal life molding so fluidly with her family life and her career. For a woman of Amalia's age, seeing the youthful vigour and fiery passion that Koko put forth into everything she did reminded her of her prior career as an actress.

"Remind me again, which of her children is which?" Amalia of course had the four children all captured by the drone's camera in clear, sharp images. Her only son, Jonah, was obvious. It was her daughters that were commanding her attention right now.

"Dahlia Montgomery, age 17, the oldest of the four." Her assistant by her side indicated the image of the tall, thin goth girl with green eyes and long black hair. "Next is Sarah Tessa Richards, also age 17." He indicated the smallest daughter, the mousy girl with white hair and a warm, bronze skintone. "These two are adopted. Next, her only son, Jonathan Mar, age 15. He seems to go by Jonah instead of his full name." Then the assistant indicated the last girl, the youngest of them all. "Lastly, Blake Roccarto Saunders, age 15. Mainly goes by the nicknames 'Rock' or 'Princess', and is currently ill with the flu. Jonathan and Blake are her own children."

"She would've been terribly young when she had them." Amalia felt a true pang of sympathy for the woman's baby girl, bedridden with the flu. "I think it's time we extended an olive branch to Miss Heckmatyar. My phone, please."

The assistant retrieved Amalia's cellphone from his suit jacket and handed it over, and Amalia dialed Koko's own number and held the device to her ear, watching the live drone feed as the woman herself picked up the phone and brought it to her ear.

"Koko Heckmatyar speaking."

"Hello, Miss Heckmatyar, I was wondering if it was at all possible for us to meet for a chat in person?" Amalia had already muted the audio for the drone feed before the line connected, but continued to watch Koko through the window as the younger woman hummed in thought.

"Is the drone feed not enough for you, Miss Torahovski?" Koko cheekily turned her torso around and waved at the drone, a sly grin clearly visible on her face.

"To be honest, I find them highly impersonal. Call me old fashioned, I find face-to-face communication much more rewarding than a computer screen or even a phone call, in some contexts." Amalia knew she'd been had with the drone, realizing some of the recordings gathered from the house were clever ruses on her part. "And, on another note, I heard your youngest isn't feeling well and felt quite sympathetic. I had the flu myself just last week."

"Well, in that case, since you know where I live, come visit for tea. I'll be waiting, Miss Torahovski."

"Of course, I shall arrive in thirty minutes." Amalia bade her goodbye and hung up as her assistant started the car while she - tactfully - closed the drone feed and messaged the technicians that they were to remove the phone tap and land the drone, then withdraw entirely.

* * *

Amalia, being warmhearted, made a brief stop on the way to pick up some fruit for Blake, and still managed to arrive a few minutes early with her assistant joining her at the front porch where an older man was leaning his forearms on the railing while he smoked.

"My name is Lehm, I'm one of Koko's bodyguards. Before I let you inside, I want to know if you two are bringing weapons inside the house. If you are, I respectfully ask that you leave them in your car. This _is_ a home, after all."

"Of course, Mr. Lehm." Amalia's assistant was also in fact her bodyguard, so he bowed his head in apology before returning to the car and removing his Glock 19 from under his suit jacket and placing it in the glove box. He returned and said his apology with the same lowered gaze.

"Go ahead, I trust you now. Don't make me regret that fact." Lehm took a calm drag of his cigarette as Amalia smiled and nodded before knocking on the door.

Koko answered the door herself with a small smile. "Miss Torahovski, please, come in." She noted that Lehm gave a small nod behind them, and stepped back to allow them to enter.

"I understand if my apology is meaningless to you after all the surveillance tricks." Amalia offered the brown paper bag of assorted fruit. "Some fruit for your daughter, I'm sure she needs her strength to fight off that flu."

"Thank you, Miss Torahovski, please, right this way." Koko accepted the generous gift and brought it with them to the kitchen, where the kettle was already heating up for tea. As the three adults came in, Dead Master - Dahlia, to the two newcomers - was in the process of getting a drink from the fridge, turning to her mother and the two guests with a curious glance between them.

"Dahlia, this is Amalia Torahovski, the woman I'm competing with for the drone deal." Koko made sure that since the eavesdropping began that every time hers, Strength's or Rock's name was used was their fake identity instead of their real name. It wasn't hard for them to clue in that something was amiss when it was going on, but now that they knew who was behind it, it was much easier now that they could physically see the person responsible.

"Hi." Dead Master nodded to the older woman, noting that the man was a bodyguard. "I heard about the fruit, want me to bring it up to Blake?" She indicated the bag in Koko's grasp.

"Make sure she at least starts eating it." Koko nodded before handing the gift off to her oldest daughter and letting her leave with it. "Now, how do you take your tea, Miss Torahovski?" Koko asked as the kettle slowly came to a boil, the steam coming out in a low whistle that faded as soon as she lifted it off the stove.

"Please, call me Amalia." Amalia smiled warmly. "If I may, shall I call you Koko as well?"

"Of course. Now then, how do you take your tea, Amalia?"


	23. Chapter 23

After the UAV debate was concluded by Koko's Predators being accepted, there wasn't much for them to do for the next two weeks. During which time Rock got over her flu, but passed it on to Tojo and Dead Master. Everyone else dodged that particular bullet.

But, it wasn't serious for them either, and were back in action in a few days.

"So, Rock..." Koko was giving the girl a look that glinted with a rapidly approaching tease. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

They were sitting in the living room, both reading. Koko had a newspaper, while Rock had one of her many novels. So, after catching that telltale glint, Rock peered over the top of her only full-framed glasses, suspicious but also curious.

"About what?"

"After all this time, you still haven't cashed in that reward for telling us where Dead Master's portal was in London. I was wondering why." Koko rested her knuckles against her cheekbone with her arm resting on the back of the couch.

"I'm still saving it for some particularly special." Rock replied, her lips tugging into a faint smile for a brief second. "Besides, it's not like it's going anywhere."

"I see..." Koko's 'uh-huh' tone sent an odd shiver up Rock's neck, but neither said anymore on the matter.

Several minutes later, Jonah returned from a slight punishment trip into the forestry at the back of the property. Lehm had ordered him to find and disarm all of his remaining whipping branch traps from the paintball exercise after setting one off several days after the event. Since then, Jonah had spent most of his afternoons, every single day, scouring the underbrush for the remaining traps.

In total, during the training event, he'd rigged 76 of the traps, and did recall that eleven of them had been set off by the adults, Rock messed with seven more, and Dead Master had actually set off two simultaneously when she was eliminated from the match. That left 56 for him to find, and he was absolutely certain that he'd kept an accurate count during his cleanup duty.

"My paintball traps are all done." Jonah reported to Koko, completely spotless - which gave away that he knew how to disarm them without setting it off - save for grass stains on his elbows and chest. "And I made sure to grab the flag too. We forgot to grab it after the match ended."

"Alright, get yourself a new shirt, you're covered in grass." Koko, having been mutually accepted by the four children as their adoptive mother, quickly checked him over and locked onto the green adorning his blue shirt. "Where'd you put the paintballs?"

"I made use of them at the firing range. Threw them at one of the targets." Jonah replied as he caught himself before just pulling his stained shirt off right there. Why he'd had that mental notion was beyond him at the moment.

"Smart idea, alright, go change." Koko tilted her head towards the stairs. "The contractor's going to be working on building Strength's new room while we're away for our next job. Should be done by the time we return."

"Where to next?" Rock looked up at that comment. She knew Koko had gone for a contract signing earlier in the week, but hadn't been briefed on the details since she'd stayed home for that meeting.

"The Balkans... And I'm really sorry... We have to fly." Koko didn't even finish her sentence before Rock's expression turned sour. She knew. "And to make things worse, Roxy can't join us... Good part is we're not going civilian airline this time... It's going to be an HCLI cargo plane."

"So, wait... what's the difference in the planes?" Rock, being more than happy with her feet on the ground, knew next to nothing about aircraft aside from how much they terrified herself, Strength, Dead Master and nearly everyone back in Otherworld.

"The plane is designed to hold shipping containers. Airliners are designed to transport people." Koko explained, well aware of the backstory to her dislike of flight. Dead Master had told her the aerial limitations of Otherworld during their long chat after South Africa. "Basically, instead of being full of seats and designed to look nice, a cargo plane is more industrial in design, and it's basically a big circular storage area with a ramp at the very back to move the containers in and out. Seats are pretty much useless, so we'll be sitting on the floor at the sides of the containers."

"How many containers?"

"Two." Koko held up said number of fingers. "But the plane I've prepped can carry three."

"I sense there's something you're not telling me." Rock knew that Koko prided herself on the mask-like smile she was so known for, but her eyes often gave away her true thoughts. Including right now.

"There is, yes." Koko slowly nodded, inwardly impressed that Rock could see through her signature smile-mask like that. "We've also got some additional passengers tagging along. They're the last part of our 'cargo' for the deal."

"What?" Rock officially lost her there.

"Put it this way..." Koko lowered her newspaper and rested her forearms on her knees as she leaned forward. "Some people are both warmhearted and empty-headed. These type of people are known as volunteers. This particular group of volunteers are actually all doctors. These people, the warm hearts and empty head's kind... they are known as NGO's. Non-Goverment Organizations. This bunch, the doctors, are an NGO called Outspoken Doctors for Humanity. What they do is travel all over the planet, especially hot zones and poor countries, offering medical aid to those people that need it."

"I understand so far..." Rock hadn't taken her eyes off Koko since sliding her bookmark into the pages of her novel and closed the cover.

"The Balkans are a hot zone, and have been for a very long time." Koko pointed at her newspaper. "In fact, the place is what I was just reading about. Which brings me to my next point."

"Yes?"

"The Balkans are being controlled by a tyrant." Koko knew the word would set Rock off in some way. Despite the lack of information from all three girls, the steadfast fact that Rock's mother, Black Star Empress, was a tyrant of a Queen was quite emphasized by all three, Rock in particular. "His name is Baldra. His group are known as 'the Balkan Dragons' and have more influence than the country's official military, who are our actual clients for this deal."

Rock was quiet for several long seconds, slowly breathing through her nose. Then, in a noticeably forced calm tone, she asked. "So what's the deal with the doctors? Does Baldra not want them in his territory?"

"That's exactly it." Koko nodded, knowing that Rock could piece that together from the points she had made during the lead up. "So, your job, for the entire trip, is threefold: Protect me, protect the doctor's and protect the cargo."

"What if this Baldra man makes an appearance? I still remember that Chen man back in South Africa."

"Then you get to enjoy some playtime. Regardless of his words nor actions, Baldra is a high priority threat to our entire presence in the country. If you take him out yourself... I'll add another reward for you to save up for whatever you want."

"You're just trying to give me a reason to get aboard the plane, aren't you?" Rock saw Koko's eyes glinting as she made the offer.

"Okay, that's twice now... How do you get past my smile like that?" Koko didn't even deny it now. She was more concerned with how her smile - so effective on almost every human she ever encountered - was shattered by a single glance from the bespectacled Princess.

"Your eyes give it away. To be fair, I doubt any human could pick up on it. It's too subtle for them to notice." Rock smiled slightly, since she knew by now that Jonah wasn't pure human anymore... and neither was she. They'd become both. Otherworlder and human... Hybrids.

* * *

The next day, after dropping Roxy off with a hired dogsitter, Koko and the crew made their first flight aboard Koko's cargo plane - empty for the time - to Germany, which was where both the doctors and the actual cargo were waiting for them.

While the airfield crewmen got the plane ready with fuel and the two shipping containers, Koko had everyone get off the plane - in full combat gear, including Strength and Dead Master with MP5's and their mutually liked sidearm being Glock 17's - to stretch their legs inside the small administrative building that the airfield had. The doctors were there, and had brought sandwiches and bottles of water for their escorts. Rock and Strength already knew that the doctors had been informed of their incredible metabolism - Koko had indeed told the chief doctor she'd met with that the two of them could eat an immense amount of food when the man himself offered the gift of food - because the two of them had foot long sub sandwiches, heavily loaded with meats and cheese, with plenty of lettuce and sauce.

"Miss Heckmatyar, it's good to see you again. I cannot thank you enough for assisting us with our excursion." The chief doctor, Rivier, a tall, muscular man that had a vertical scar on his face near his eye, shook hands with Koko as the sandwiches were handed out to their intended member of her crew and family. Including herself.

"Of course, Doctor." Koko returned the handshake before accepting her wrapped sandwich. "Now, as you can expect, I've delegated that any appearance of Baldra or his men is a high level threat for my crew to handle. Should open combat take place, you and your team are to hide inside the plane until I personally come in to retrieve you. My first concern, is and always will be, to fulfill the parameters of my contract with your organization."

"Of course. I shall pass along the details right away." Rivier nodded before turning to gather his group, repeating Koko's instructions for them all to stay in the plane at even a hint of a weapon being drawn.

Nearby, Rock and Strength were already halfway through their sandwiches, having been listening the whole time. They had their orders, of course. Protect Koko, the doctors and the cargo. Bonus points for Rock would be to claim Baldra's kill herself.

" _You still use your Ogre Arms, right?_ " Rock asked in Old Speak.

" _Of course._ " Strength replied after shoving her mouthful of food into her cheek. " _You unbound me from your mother's debt, I can use my Arms whenever I want now. I don't need an incantation from her, nor you._ "

" _Good. So, when things get bad with Baldra, I want you to use them to protect Koko. I know you can do that better than the rest of us._ "

" _You think Baldra's going to show up?_ " Strength turned to her 'sister' with a concerned look in her eyes. Without her scarf in the way, it was easy to see the worried expression forming on her face.

" _I would, if I was him. The temptation for him - and the risk for us - are too high in general. Someone doing business with the official army, plus sneaking in a bunch of doctors that he'd already forbade entry is an honest recipe for disaster. I have no doubt in my mind that he'll also bring plenty of his men with him for this. Might even make some sort of display out of it, if things were on his terms._ "

" _Which they aren't_." Jonah spoke up from nearby, calmly leaning his back against the wall while he ate. " _I know you want that reward from Koko, so I'll cover you when you go for his worthless hide._ "

" _So you agree that he'll show up?_ " Rock asked with a slight smile before she took another large chunk of her sandwich off with her usual gusto.

" _If he's not on the tarmac by the time the back ramp touches the ground, then you can have the whole bed to yourself for a week._ " Jonah replied wholeheartedly. He would sleep on the floor for a week, willingly, on the billion-to-one chances that Baldra wouldn't be there before they even got out of their seats, let alone lowered the back ramp of the plane.

* * *

 **A/N: Managed to find a spare moment to upload these two chapters, and I would like to wish everyone reading this a safe and happy holidays. I originally intended to piece together a sort of christmas themed bonus scene and slap it onto the end of this chapter - it'd have been non-canon to the storyline as a whole - but sadly I couldn't think of anything that would've worked for me.**


	24. Chapter 24

The flight was reasonably quiet for a while. Rock was nose deep in one of her pocket-sized novels - a wise choice to acquire during her last trip to a bookstore - that she'd brought with her in preparation for the flight to and then from the Balkans. Of course she also had her gear belt with all her packs and pouches, plus her Remington was leaning against her body with the stock nestled between her feet, leaning against her collarbone while she read.

Beside her, Jonah was playing a card game with one of the doctors while Strength was asleep on his shoulder, having fallen asleep in preparation for their protection duty. Nearby, in a surprising twist, Dead Master was awake but quiet. She knew sleeping now would mean she'd stay asleep. Mages didn't do short naps unless interrupted by someone or something prematurely.

"So, what's the deal with you two?" The doctor Jonah was playing cards with glanced at Rock for a moment before turning his gaze to Jonah to indicate he meant the pair. "You seem so much closer than the others."

"We're siblings." Jonah replied, not curt nor evasive in his tone. "Koko's our mother, despite our different appearances."

"I can see bits of her in both of you actually." The doctor shuffled his hand around to find the card he was after. "But I meant more that... you two almost seem to have some kind of magic connection."

"In what way?" Jonah asked, playing his card while also sounding oblivious to the idea of them sharing a magic connection of any kind.

"It's like... You two have the same aura." The doctor smiled. "Like, you give off a strong 'twins' impression, even though you're so different in appearances."

Rock looked over with an amused expression, one eyebrow raised. "We're fraternal twins, actually. Jonah looks more like our dad, while I look more like Koko."

"So I've noticed, ha ha!" The man smiled before lowering his cards in defeat. "Looks like you win, Jonah. I can't use anything now."

"One more round? Or another card game entirely?" Jonah collected the cards and began to shuffle them vigorously.

"I'm up for a game." Dead Master had been watching casually, and of course listening to the chatter. "How about some poker?"

"You just want to improve your poker face, don't you?" Jonah smirked as he teased his eldest sister.

"Is it still that bad?" Dead Master was keeping a straight face despite the tease.

"Your lip twitches when you're nervous." Rock, who knew Dead Master the most out of the others, smirked as she slid her bookmark into the pages of the pocket novel and tucked it back into it's pouch on her belt. "I'm up for a game of poker too."

"Just a casual game, no betting." The doctor, being responsible, accepted the cards from Jonah, prepared to be the dealer for the game. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." The siblings nodded and chorused in unison as the cards were quickly handed out for five-card poker.

* * *

Rock managed to win the most hands, but not by much. Even while actively blocking each other from hearing their thoughts, she knew how to read Jonah's face better than anyone. He himself, of course came second, having a similar skill in regards to her. That capability was simply from being at each other's side for so long, and from being as close as they were. Their Lifelink was intentionally suppressed for the game, and only after they'd finished did they stop actively blocking out their telepathic senses.

By then, Koko had joined them from the cockpit with Ugo and the HCLI pilot that she'd contracted for the flights. She leaned on the large shipping container and spoke aloud to everyone.

"We're almost at our designated airport, we will be landing shortly, so doctor's, please come to the front part of the cargo hold. My crew need to be at the ramp in case of Baldra showing his face and making a big scene."

Everyone shifted around to move into position, the doctors had their backpacks while the crew readied their weapons with clicks, clacks and that oh-so-distinctive pumping clack-clack of Rock's Remington.

Jonah was right by her side near the front, and as requested before taking off, Strength was with Koko and Dead Master - who clued in that they had a plan of some kind - was acting as the rear guard, to stay with the doctors in case Baldra ordered his men to board the plane.

With ease, the plane was landed smoothly and taxied to a halt in preparation to unload the shipping containers that were immobilized by chains and restraints in the middle of the hold.

"All clear for ramp!" Ugo called from up front, shutting the engines down as Lehm hit the ramp controls, filling the hold with the whine of the ramp descending, which also revealed two military men standing side by side several feet away.

"Baldra's the one on the right with the beret." Koko reported to Rock in a low whisper as the crew moved out with fluid ease, Strength staying right by Koko's side as Rock and Jonah kept their guns down - for now - but never took their eyes off Baldra.

"Miss Heckmatyar, I hope your flight was safe and untroubled." Baldra spoke up, his voice accented and hinted at his age. "Because I'm well aware that you're not permitted to transport people into my country."

"Captain Harchek?" Koko ignored Baldra, her gaze set upon the other man, who had a lighter uniform and a fatigue cap. "Your order of 122 millimeter artillery, as agreed."

"Don't even start, Miss Heckmatyar." Baldra held up his hand to silence the Captain's attempt to speak. "It is unwise to ignore someone like that."

"Pardon me, sir, I have no business with you. So if you would be so kind as to cease interrupting myself and my client, it would be greatly appreciated." Koko cut him a testy tone, but didn't take her eyes off the Captain. "Now, Captain, if you could please confirm the details of the order on this form..." She held out a document from under her arm, but Baldra took a few steps forward, his expression angry.

"You're not in any position to be so contriving. I know you've got members of ODH onboard your aircraft, unload them willingly or I will unload them by force."

"Mother... Can I kill him now?" Rock suddenly spoke up from behind Baldra, who turned his head around to see her holding her Remington in one hand, aimed at the back of his head. "Or does he get one last warning to be a good little boy?"

"I think staring into a shotgun's the last warning he needs, Blake." Koko glared at Baldra with an icy gaze. "I will deal with you after I've finished my business conversation with the Captain. Should you not heed this moment of mercy, I _will_ permit my daughter to enjoy her moment of unrestricted playtime with you as she sees fit. Have I made myself clear, Mr. Nikalayovitch?"

"Don't think you're getting off that easily." Baldra grinned as troops in the same uniform as his came poring out of the nearby hangar, all armed with AK's. "Doctors, right now... or you all die. Last chance."

"Have it your way." Koko grinned, snapping her fingers together with a surprisingly loud, sharp _CRACK_ rending through the quiet air...

"You should run..." Rock grinned as she gave Baldra the sinister order that matched her sadistic expression, her eyes turning a vivid glowing purple. "It makes killing you so much more _fun_!"

Baldra chose to stand his ground, only barking orders for his men to open fire before mildly amusing Rock by swatting her shotgun aside with his forearm, the other drawing his pistol from his belt.

Jonah already had his FNC aimed at Baldra before he'd diverted Rock's shotgun, but didn't fire yet. He sensed that Rock was planning something underneath that chaotic flurry of emotions she was having. It was just like what happened with the two assassins in Dubai...

"Try me, little man." Rock didn't flinch, nor did she even move to dodge. She just calmly stepped closer until her forehead was against the barrel of his pistol. "I know your kind, and you don't scare me."

Baldra fired, but the next thing he knew she had him flat on his back, one hand still holding her shotgun, the other literally crushing his pistol into scraps.

"You can do better than that, can't you?" She dropped the pieces before hauling him to his feet by his collar and making him stand. "I'm waiting..." Her tone was mockingly bored as she rested her shotgun on her shoulder, tapping her foot against the concrete as gunfire erupted around them, having been started by Baldra's order for his militia to attack.

Baldra was losing his patience with the French girl's antics. So he went for her throat, only to have his extending hands casually swatted aside how one would swat a buzzing fly. Her boredom was obvious, but she was clearly amused by him for some reason.

"Running is always an option, you know." The girl's cheeky tone still had a strange sinister note to it, denoting that was what she really wanted him to do. Any attempts to attack her would be smacked aside like nothing. "I'm getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it... The way my heart would race, and the adrenaline coursing through my body while you tried to escape me... Mmmmm, hurry! _Run_! I want it _so_ much! Make me _chase_ you! _Do it_!"

Baldra was getting unnerved by the girl's sudden shift into insane rambling. But the way her cheeks began to turn pink from arousal were starting to make him back away, which seemed to make her even more excited.

"That's it! Run! Run from me, Baldra! I want to _chase you_!" She started moving, and Baldra's instinctive flight mechanism kicked in, turning with terror in his eyes as she finally seemed to lose it, barreling full speed after him, only to suddenly flicker out of sight and reappear several meters in front of him, set to tackle him with that same deranged arousal plastered over her face. He changed course, hearing her follow his new path, grabbing and snatching at his pumping arms, almost nipping at his heels before repeating that same strange teleportation and coming at him from a new angle.

If Baldra hadn't been so terrified, he'd have realized she was toying with him the entire time, making him run out of stamina and constantly panic at her unpredictable tactics. It was only when Baldra stumbled and fell to the ground that he realized the fact.

In nanoseconds she landed on top of him from a flying leap, grabbing his collar with both hands - she'd dropped her shotgun during the first few seconds of the chase - and laughed darkly, leaning in close to his face with that wide-open eyed expression of utter madness.

"Playtime's only getting started, y'know... Try not to ruin it, okay?" Without warning she slammed his head against the concrete to stun him, then began to trace the tip of her fingers along the underside of his jawline, letting out a pleased sounding hum in her throat as she felt the flesh give way under her new claws.

Unfortunately, she'd underestimated the length of the claws and pierced his jugular in the process, quickly making him struggle beneath her superior strength, his already racing heart quickening the very short time he had left to begin with.

"Now now, we can't be making such a big mess during playtime, now can we?" Rock lifted the bloodied claws to her mouth and licked them clear without breaking her eye contact with Baldra as he bled out beneath her. "Mmmm... and we haven't even gotten to the _best_ part, now have we?"

Baldra died at that point, making her giggle as she gently patted his cheek with her palm.

"I know, the excitement's just too much to handle!"

Before she could do anything else, she was snapped back to reality when Jonah put his hand onto her shoulder, instantly turning her eyes back to blue as she let out a small startled gasp.

"We need to talk."


	25. Chapter 25

Rock's heart was hammering somewhere in her throat as she sat with Jonah away from everyone else's check of the militia's corpses for any survivors. Jonah also informed Koko that they were having a private conversation and asked that they be left alone. Koko agreed, having witnessed Rock's eyes turning purple before Strength's massive metal arms shielded her from the gunfire.

"What I saw, and what I sensed both have me worried about you, Rock." Jonah sat with his arm around her shoulders, acutely aware of her panic. "It's like you lose your mind entirely.. I know we're still Lifelinked, but all I can sense from you is this... chaotic storm of emotions that don't match up with what you do or say."

"I don't... I... don't know what happens. I just see everything in shades of red and can't stop myself. I feel horrible right now... I know what happens when it goes on, but it's like I'm watching through a window or watching a video through someone else's eyes."

"That's my next part..." Jonah held her closer. "It's like you're not even there, just an empty shell."

"What happens now?" Rock was terrified that whatever this... alternate version of herself would do the next time it took her over. Would she hurt Koko? Or Jonah? What about Strength? Innocent civilians? Or worse... herself.

"We need to figure out what the hell this insanity is." Jonah replied. "But right now, we need to tell Koko that something's changing in you and we can't figure out what it is... Or what seems to cause it."

"Wouldn't that make things worse? If we told her how unpredictable this madness is..." Rock wrapped her arms around his torso, worry flashing in her eyes.

"We can't hide that fact, because of the fact it's unpredictable. It's too dangerous." Jonah gently stroked the top of her head with one hand, the other holding her against his chest. He knew she always calmed herself to sleep by listening to his often slower heartbeat than hers. Right now, it was just that; calm, slow and steady.

"I'm scared... that I might hurt someone close to me." Rock's panicked breathing was beginning to slow down, matching every third heartbeat in Jonah's chest as her racing pulse slowed to resynchronize with Jonah's soothing pulse. It was only after several seconds of resonance between them that Jonah spoke. Which was in the same calm voice that he'd been using the entire time.

"I won't let that happen. I promise."

* * *

"Have you been learning to control your connection, Hex?" Black Star Empress, seated at the desk of the master bedroom of the CIA owned safehouse that she and Black Rock Beast had been placed in under constant protection. Of course, the human woman she was Lifelinked to was leaning moodily on the wall nearby.

"All I hear from your end is humming. It gets louder when I'm closer to you." Hex replied after a brief moment of mentally focusing on her partner's energy.

"Good, you have been practicing like I told you to." Empress nodded approvingly. "I have indeed been humming to make sure you were listening."

"So you're toying with me." Hex's expression turned sour for a moment.

"I'm teaching you how to use a Lifelink without losing your focus." Empress shook her head. "I had a Lifelink once... to my husband before he died. So I know what are common traits when a Link is shared. And that also means I know how to use them all almost as soon as they are formed."

"So that's the father to your daughters." Hex commented to herself after a fairly handsome man's face flashed in her mind. She instinctively knew that Empress had done it to her through their Link. "How'd he die?"

Empress didn't reply, only smirking slightly as she replayed the memory of the bandit attack that had ended with her husband succumbing to his wounds after slaying the last of the brigands. Hex gasped loudly as she witnessed the battle, in awe of her partner's husband's battle prowess with a broadsword and a shield.

"Stop toying with me..." Hex grabbed her face with one hand, dizzy from the foreign memory invading her psyche.

"These are traits that all Lifelinks share. The sharing of one's memories is a process so simple that even Linked children can do it with minimal practice. And it's not just for mere review either. Memory is shared as a duplicate, and the one receiving also inherits what you call 'muscle memory' and any skills developed during the particular memory being shared." Empress gestured to Hex with one hand, indicating the woman's hip where she knew a gun was holstered. "Take your weapon, for example... If you presented me with all your training memories, I would be equally skilled in using the weapon, and all acquired knowledge you possess concerning it."

"And how would I 'present' you with any sort of memory?" Hex asked, staring at Empress through her fingers.

"Focus on the memory you wish to share, and if you concentrate, I can pick up on which one it is and thus receive it as my own." Empress slowly nodded her head once. "Let's start with a small memory. Something mundane or trivial."

"Like what?" Hex asked, wary.

"Since I shared a memory of my husband, how about you share one of yours?" Empress only knew of Hex's past relationship because she'd taken a look inside the woman's wallet the night before while Hex was asleep - Empress had declared that Hex stay at the safehouse with her and Beast when she wasn't working - and come across a faded, folded photograph of a smiling man.

"How did you...?" Hex knew she hadn't even hinted at her fiance to the Otherworld woman since she'd arrived in her life.

"I found the picture inside your wallet." Empress replied. "Just one memory, Hex... A name, that would be a good start."

Hex scowled at the Queen's admission to snooping through her wallet, not that she didn't already know what was inside, aside from the picture hidden behind her CIA ID badge.

"Share me a memory of his name, and I shall leave you be." Empress kept a level tone and stare to the busty black ops agent, remaining unmoving in her chair with both hands on the armrests and her legs crossed at the knee.

Hex's glare could've melted through steel, but she finally conceded defeat and focused on a very short flash of when she'd first met her fiance and he'd introduce himself.

Empress nodded to show that she'd received the few seconds of memory from Hex's perspective. "You can go now. He has such a beautiful smile."

Hex strode out of the room with a firm scowl adorning her face. Unfortunately she wasn't permitted to leave the safehouse without a legitimate reason, so she sat fuming in an armchair in the large living room, only to realize several seconds later that Black Rock Beast was laying on the couch with an amused smirk on her face.

"Aww, did she make you feel like a fool?" Beast's tone was dripping with mockery as she stared at Hex through her every present blue flaming eye. Her matching cyan crown was tilted down to cover her brow of the unlit other eye, making the sapphire blue stand out againt the pale of her skin and the brightness of the strange headgear alongside the fire.

"Your commentary isn't necessary, child." Hex snapped back, crossing her leg over her knee and resting her chin against the knuckles of her raised arm.

"No, it isn't." Beast's smile widened slightly. "Doesn't mean I won't share it anyway."

"I wasn't aware that I asked for you to do that either." Hex's scowl turned into a snarl with her teeth slightly bared.

"You didn't. I chose to share my commentary without the need for express permission." Beast replied. "Besides, what you fail to realize is that you're slowly becoming more like her. You're sitting the exact same way that she does when she's in a bad mood, y'know."

"I've always sat this way when I'm pissed off." Hex countered.

"No, you haven't." Beast sat upright and leaned her armoured forearms onto her likewise armoured knees. "You would sit like this when you were angered, or you would grind your teeth if you had nothing to say."

"And what makes you such an expert on me?" Hex demanded suddenly.

"I'm observant. Just because you've barely heard me engage in conversation doesn't mean I'm stupid. I keep an eye on everyone at all times. Including my mother, and especially you."

"Why?"

"Because I know your kind." Beast stood up to leave with a smirk. "I believe the term you humans use is a 'loose cannon'? You're not one for obeying authority, and that makes you dangerous to others... and yourself."


	26. Chapter 26

The return flight back home to England was much quieter than the one to the Balkans. Everyone was sleeping while they had the chance, save for Rock, who was huddled up at the front near the entrance to the cockpit, with Jonah's hoodie draped over her shoulders as she stared at the nearby shipping container's only patch of rust. She was still reeling from the second time she'd gone insane and lost control of herself. By now she'd realized that it was what had also happened in Dubai when she'd attacked the two assassins for wounding Jonah.

"Now she's the one that's traumatized..." Dead Master was surprisingly sincere to her ex in the corner of the hold. "Sucks that she did it to herself though."

"You and I both know that it's not that simple." Jonah spared the oldest sibling a testy glare. "So, did this ever happen back in Otherworld?"

"I'd have said so if it did." Dead Master shook her head. "I heard you telling Koko something about her eyes changing colour, though."

"Purple." Jonah replied calmly, which made Dead Master's eyes widen with sudden fear before switching to speaking Old Speak.

"Haven't you noticed something about colour between us?" Dead Master indicated Strength sleeping with her MP5 laying in her lap while her - now back to normal - arms were laying limply at her sides with palms facing upwards.

"No, actually. Explain."

"Let's start simple... Blue. It's the colour for Royalty in Otherworld. Anything made with blue colours is considered to have higher value." Dead Master explained. "And, something you might not know about Rock... her blood is literally blue."

"Alright, now for green." Jonah nodded at Dead Master's small horns hidden in her hair, which was a symbol of her Necromantic powers.

"Death." Dead Master wasn't joking. "And that includes Necromancy. With skill and experience, my horns will grow and turn brighter and brighter green."

"Now for orange." Jonah's gaze likewise fell on his slumbering sister for a moment.

"Health and vigor." Dead Master explained. "Just like the sun, since back home it's more orange than yellow like here."

"What about red?" Jonah's own scarlet eyes were what inspired his question about the next colour.

"Loyalty."

"And purple?" Jonah narrowed his eyes at the last relevant colour to this conversation.

"Madness, instability, and insanity."

* * *

"Jonah, to be safe... I want you to take my Colt. I can't trust myself knowing I have a weapon." Rock finally spoke after they'd both gotten back to their room at home. They'd closed the door and ditched their gear on the floor, too tired to bother with it right now. They would deal with it in the morning.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Jonah didn't like the idea, despite the good intentions she had.

"It's just for a bit." Rock handed the .45 caliber pistol to him by the barrel. "I just want to clear my head after going insane like that."

"Alright." Jonah accepted the weapon and removed the magazine, then racked the slide to eject the round in the chamber. He put it on the bedside table, followed by the bullet and magazine beside it. "So, I spoke to Dead Master about what colours symbolize in Otherworld. She told me that purple means insanity."

"That's right. Why? Did something about me turn purple?" Rock was concerned, of course. But she didn't know what changed since everything was red in her eyes when it happened.

"Your eyes." Jonah nodded slightly. "They also glowed the entire time until I stopped you. They went back to blue as soon as I touched you."

"That is... Strange." Rock was worried, clenching her fingers together as she sat on their bed. "There must be an explanation for this... I am so confused though, this doesn't make any sense!"

"Confused about what?" Jonah was pretty sure they'd gone over what had happened with Baldra, so it must be something else. Something he couldn't sense through her confusion and worry.

"Back in Dubai, I think it happened because I thought you were dying... but this time, with Baldra, I was the one he had his attention on, but there was no feeling of danger. It was easy to deal with him, but as soon as I started thinking about making him run away, I couldn't stop everything from happening until you stopped me..."

"You were probably getting far too excited about that reward from Koko, maybe that was what set it off?" Jonah knew she'd earned that reward for killing Baldra, it was just that her methods weren't expected.

"I think that makes sense..." Rock slowly nodded, squirming slightly as she recalled the words that came out of her mouth at the time. It was making her start sweating nervously as flashes of that whole event played in her mind.

Jonah carefully hugged her from the side, gently kissing the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around his stomach and gave him a kiss of her own on his cheek.

It was comforting for her, knowing he was right there in her arms, caring about her so much. She kissed him again, on the mouth this time, finally able to relax her tensed muscles knowing she was safe in his arms.

Jonah could tell she was calming down, but her heart wasn't slowing down. In fact, it was almost as if her pulse was quickening intentionally. What was going on?

Her fingers curled into his hoodie, gripping the material tightly to pull him closer to her body while they made out. It was now that Jonah realized she was just getting excited from making out with him, which was more than expected, but also quite welcome after being so high strung for as long as she had been.

Rock was too busy kissing and pulling him against herself to take stock of the fact she was getting herself all worked up. Her cheeks were flushed, her heart was hammering, and her whole body felt like it was on fire. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in over three years... She was getting horny, and fast.

They separated for just a moment, putting their foreheads together to stare into each other's eyes. Jonah's warm, loving smile was making her nervous, but in a good way as she slowly moved on leg over his lap to straddle him, something that wasn't unusual in the slightest. She linked her arms around the back of his neck and smiled before resuming their passionate kiss, feeling Jonah's arms snake around her lower back and hold her securely against his chest.

Jonah had enough sense to know where to draw the line, but he didn't realize that Rock did not. She wasn't be particularly rough on him, just very grabby and excited.

And then she opened her eyes, revealing that she'd gone Insane without either of them realizing it.

"Hey, you still with me?" Jonah withdrew from her mouth as they panted slightly.

"Yeah, I'm here." Rock's eyes were still that dangerous glowing purple, but they didn't have that intense inner fire like before. Just purple, with her gear shaped iris a few shades different. "Are you good? Should I get off you?"

"No, I'm fine. I was just checking." Jonah smiled slightly, deciding to test the waters with this latest change. "Are you good too?"

"I'm good, yeah." Rock gently kissed him again before smiling as well. "I love you, Jonah."

"I will always love you, Black Rock Shooter." Jonah renewed their passion once more, one of his hands sliding up her back while the other went downwards, along the curve of her backside to hold the back of her knee as he leaned forward, bring her slowly to lay on her back on the bed.

Rock was liking the new position, especially how Jonah was still holding her leg and cradling the back of her neck. He then moved to kiss the side of her neck, smirking slightly with a teasingly quick moment of eye contact.

Rock was panting with each caress of his lips against her hot skin, offering little specks of cool relief as he slowly moved along her collarbone, barely even acknowledging the shoulder straps for her bra and tank top. He just kissed right on top of them, making her frown slightly at the teasing glint in his eyes.

She failed to realize that he'd been distracting her until she felt the clasp of her bra pop open from the hand he'd had on her back the entire time. She sucked in a small, sharp breath as she smirked up at her while slowly lifting the hem of her shirt almost all the way to her neck, revealing her bra.

She smiled at his sneaky tactic, but didn't bother to take off the unclasped garment. Instead, he simple lifted her bra right up her small bust, leaving it with her raised tank top as he slowly slid his other hand along her thigh, then her hip, teasingly tracing the line of her upper scar - which seemed to tickle her, making her squirm at his slow touches until he traced the pad of his thumb against her perky, soft pink areola, making her sigh softly as she gripped the bedsheets beside her head.

"Mmmmm..." She hummed in approval as he continued caressing her small chest, taking his time, drawing out the sensations with his fingers, which was quickly followed by precise tonguework that made her hook her legs around the backs of his own, writhing beneath him as he continued exploring her body. Tracing her scars with his finger went well the first time, but the other one was gifted with his tongue, which earning an adorable little squeal from her as she tensed her abs into an obvious six-pack for a moment as Jonah continued moving downwards until he was met with her shorts.

Rock was quick to assist by lifting her hips from the bed, while he unclasped the button and hummed the zipper down, slowly pulling the black shorts down her milk-white legs and tossed them aside to smile up at her purple eyes.

"I want it, Jonah." Rock begged for him to keep going, knowing that there was a question in his eyes, asking her one last time if she was comfortable with things. "Please..."

Jonah gently kissed the skin of her thigh, glancing over at her as he did so, smirking at the damp patch in her panties as he continued trailing chaste kisses up the length of her thigh as she herself lifted herself onto her forearms and kept her knees up as he finally reached her panties and smiled even wider.

She could feel his breathing against her covered entrance, begging him with her eyes to proceed. He hadn't taken his eyes off her the entire length of kisses along her leg, and it was that teasing that was exciting her so much. That knowing smirk, the glint in his eyes... All of it kept her wanting, her body reacting to the sensations and her mind going faster and faster by the second as he finally moved the edge of her panties to the side and revealed her quivering slit to him.

Rock thought that now that she wasn't covered by her panties, he would stop teasing her... But that wasn't the case. With the same excruciating slowness, Jonah teased at the sensitive skin around her nethers, making her coo, gasp and sigh at the tiniest of touches.

He was carefully mapping out what she liked, devoting it all to memory as he gently traced his finger right along the entrance, making her gasp at the even stronger sensation coursing through her body.

Slowly sliding his finger inside intensified the sensations by the nanosecond, making Rock tense her stomach into a six pack again, repeatedly, as Jonah stopped his hand's progress and slowly began to withdraw from within her, making her knees shake against his shoulder and for her breathing to catch in her throat for a moment.

It didn't take long for Jonah to ease into a steady tempo, only his index at first, but then joined by his middle finger as Rock put one hand on the top of his head to steady herself.

But that wasn't the end of it, he slowly moved his head closer and began using his tongue as well, teasing her lips and clit with precise movements that were rewarded by Rock bucking her hips, a throaty moan rising through her mixture of gasping, sighing and humming. Her eyes were unfocused behind her glasses, which were halfway down her nose as she squirmed her upper body in time to her bucking hips.

With one last grab at his hair, this time with both hands, Rock's whole body quivered and shook as she finally came, her entire voice catching in her throat as her eyes rolled back and she clenched her teeth to stop herself from drooling.

Rock's orgasm eventually died down, and she relaxed, her racing heart pounding in her ears keeping her from just passing out right then and there.

"I... that... Felt so... amazing." Rock panted, her chest heaving up and down as Jonah lifted his head from her very satisfied sex, letting her limp hands drop to the bed after gripping his hair.

"How do you feel now? Better?" Jonah licked his lips with a smirk. Her quim tasted far sweeter than he'd expected that it would.

"I feel so... greedy." She took a second to choose her word, still recovering from her pleasure high. "I can't just... receive, like that... It's not fair to you." She wasn't a fool, and for what little her mother did for her, she did at least teach her about love, consent and sex when she was still at the palace.

"I understand that you feel that way, but I can't go further like that." Jonah didn't quite understand what she'd meant, not from lack of intelligence, just her wording.

"No, I get that..." Rock, finally able to move, lifted herself up onto her forearms. "That's going to take time. I meant that I think it's only fair that I service you, as you did for me."

"Are you sure?" Jonah could tell that Rock was able to see the bulge in his groin, so he didn't deny that he wanted it, he just knew better than to force himself upon her.

" _Would you like the Royal treatment, my master?_ " Rock's tone became very sultry and husky as she shifted to speaking Old Speak while sitting herself upright to begin crawling towards him. _"One should never deny a Princess of her wishes either..."_

 _"You're not really giving me much in the way of options, are you?"_ Jonah didn't break her teasing little roleplay. _"If my Princess so wishes, I clearly must obey."_

" _Hmmmm... A wise decision._ " Rock's hand was already fondling his member as she leaned her face close to his for a kiss, her eyes glinting mischievously. " _You belong to only me, Jonah..."_

She kissed him, letting her claim hang in the air as a sort of warning while her hands made quick work of his zipper and withdrew his length from within, hot and rigid beneath her soft hands.

Rock was mostly operating on instinct right now, but she also had an inkling that Jonah had delved her mind the whole time he was pleasuring her, to learn what she liked and where she liked it. So she did just that, diving right to his sub-conscious and smiled into their kiss as she archived how and where he liked to be touched.

Breaking the kiss, she moved backwards until his length was right in her sights, still grasped in her left hand, thumb and index forming an O at the base of his length against his shorts. It was her prize, all for her to enjoy.

Without further ado, she began stroking his length with her entrapping hand, applying a bit of pressure at the right spots to make his heart rate start to pick up. Unlike him, she wasn't going to take things slow and tease him... well, not the _entire_ time...

The stroking didn't last long, and was quickly paused with her grip back at the base of his shaft, while her head moved forward to teasingly lick the underside of his glans with the very tip of her tongue, making his breath catch for a moment as she looked up at him the same way he did to her.

He gently placed his hand on the top of her head, patting her hair as she used her other hand to push her glasses back up her nose before moving her mouth back to his member and slowly pushing his length into her mouth, tucking her lips over her teeth as it slid inside, drawing out a groan from Jonah.

Carefully exploring every little nook and cranny of his shaft with her tongue, Rock knew she was doing a excellently at mapping him out, plus teasing him as well. She allowed more of his shaft into her mouth, continuing to explore the organ bit by bit until her nose pressed against her knuckles at the base of his shaft.

Without realizing it, she'd taken his entire length into her mouth without noticing her progress. Not that she minded, having been breathing through her nose the whole time. It just meant that she'd already found where to start teasing him while she started to withdraw her head back, licking the underside of his shaft while simultaneously inhaling with her mouth, causing her cheeks to cave in and caress his length and draw out even more of a reaction.

In no time at all, she was working at a strong, steady pace, her tongue dancing all around his shaft and glans as she sucked on his length with ease. She was even able to deepthroat him with minimal effort, although she didn't know that was what she was doing was called. All she really knew was that he tasted great and she loved doing it.

"I'm... almost..." Jonah spoke up to let her know he was reaching his limit, but she just winked one eye at him without stopping her minstrations.

When his release finally hit him, Rock felt his whole length shudder in warning, and forced her head forward to direct his length back down her throat, which was then set to receive his torrent of release, filling her mouth with the strong, sharp taste and made her hum in satisfaction as it caressed her tastebuds and made her knees shake and a shiver raced up her spine.

She cleaned his length as she slowly withdrew him from her mouth, collecting all of it and smoothly swallowed it all in one go, very pleased with herself and happily rewarded for her efforts.

Jonah was amazed she'd done all that so skillfully, smiling at her as she placed one hand to her cheek, fingers splayed below and to the side of her eye, staring at him as her eyes transitioning back to their normal sapphire blue by themselves.

"I feel so much better now..." Rock bit her lower lip and arched her eyebrows, forming a very seductive expression on her face. "And it's only just the beginning, isn't it? You belong to only me, Jonah... And I, to you."

"Let's get some sleep before you get any more ideas..." Jonah chuckled, holding her close to himself as they shared one last, gentle kiss before getting themselves properly ready for bed.

Out in the hall, Koko stood upright from her leaning position against the wall, her arms crossed and a sly smirk on her face as she turned and silently walked away from their closed bedroom door.


	27. Chapter 27

"Hex, I'm calling to let you know we're proceeding with Operation Undershaft today, meet me in my office when you arrive." Bookman's message from about twenty minutes earlier played in Hex's phone on speaker while she prepared her Glock 19 and holstered it on her hip, the last part of her morning routine before leaving the safehouse to go to CIA Headquarters.

Despite her Lifelink with Empress, Hex still had to do her job, not just finding Empress' daughter, Black Rock Shooter, but all of her other missions as well. For simplicity, Hex had been reassigned to a desk job, temporarily, until they managed to find the girl and proceed with a more dedicated search.

Thankfully, Empress had provided her with a direct memory of the girl from before her disappearance. Although a bit outdated by three and a half years, her uncanny resemblance to her mother made it easier to predict any possible aging since the memory had happened. Hex had her top guys running the girl's face - which was drawn by a sketch artist to perfectly depict the girl's features - through every known database in the world, from security camera data and social media to news articles for the crowds in the background. Hell, even passports from every major country were being scanned with the power of Big Brother's finest.

"I take it this Undershaft is another task entirely?" Empress was awake, but still in bed, observing her partner's back as she gathered her keys and phone from the dresser.

"Hate to say it, but it's not for you to know the details about. Yes, it's another task I've been assigned. Can't say anything else." Hex replied as she turned to leave the bedroom they shared - Empress' insistence, of course - only to sense Empress attempting to delve into her memories. "Stop."

"I wasn't looking for that Undershaft assignment. I was making sure you didn't forget anything before you leave." Empress was pleased that Hex managed to stop her progress without breaking her stride towards the door.

"I'm a grown woman, I can handle myself." Hex leveled a glare at her partner. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that, even if you're being sincere."

"You sound like my youngest." Empress tossed the blankets aside to stand up. "I assure you, I still have my motherly moments, so bear that in mind the next time I offer sincere assistance like that."

Hex averted her gaze for a moment. "I appreciate the concern, I'm just... accustomed to my independence."

"No, you've been alone for too long and hide your loneliness with that fiery independance." Empress, although clad in light pajamas, still had her authority and strong presense. "Asking for help is not shameful, Hex... even if it's finding your wallet."

To further drive her point home, Empress held up Hex's wallet in her hand, having felt it under the blankets when she was still laying in bed.

Hex exhaled through her nose before taking her wallet from her partner. "We humans ask 'do you have everything?' instead of poking into each other's short term memory. You shouldn't rely on our Lifelink so much and just try talking once in a while. Might surprise you what results you get."

"A simple 'thank you' would've sufficed." Empress smirked before turning to enter the master bedroom's bathroom to get herself ready for the day.

* * *

"You seem chipper this morning." Koko teased Rock's much better spirits as they all sat down to eat breakfast.

"Mmm-hmm..." Rock was taking a drink of orange juice at the moment and couldn't give a proper reply.

"How're you feeling?" Koko still had that teasing glint in her eye, well aware that Rock would see right through her Cheshire smile-mask in an instant.

"It felt weird sleeping without Roxy with us." Rock replied as she lowered her glass. "We pick her up at eleven, right?"

"Eleven thirty." Koko shook her head slightly. "So now that you've gotten some sleep, do you think we can discuss what happened?"

"Sure." Rock shrugged slightly before beginning to eat.

"Good to hear. I'm pretty sure it's not Lifelink related, it's just a possibility, among many potential reasons we might not even know about yet."

"It's not." Jonah spoke up. "Otherwise I'd have been affected too."

"Kid's got a point..." Lehm commented. "If anything, I think your Link is keeping whatever it is from getting out of hand."

"What do you mean, Lehm?" Dead Master, who, being a mage - even though a specialized one - had more knowledge of Lifelinks than the rest of them, was curious about the old man's line of thinking.

"You noticed that it all ended as soon as Jonah touched her, right?" Lehm gestured to the two youngest with one hand. "I mean, I'm no expert, but that's gotta be factored into the equation somewhere. What if Jonah didn't touch her? Then what would've happened?"

"Don't put that though into my head please..." Rock commented, staring at her plate as she slightly shook her head. "I was out of control, we all know that fact. Jonah was able to stop me, we should just end it there."

"You're right. My bad." Lehm backed off from the dark topic of 'what if...' theories. "So what's on the docket today? Other than picking up Roxy."

"I have nothing planned business wise... I think it's just the construction crew doing the last bits of Strength's room for today and tomorrow. They'll be here at nine thirty." Koko replied. "So we should probably start thinking about going to London to get the furniture and essentials. Us girls can go shopping after the construction's all finished, you boys can put the furniture together while we're gone... Except for you, Jonah. You're coming with Rock and us." Koko indicated the rest of the girls, herself and Valmet with one hand, her gaze set upon her secret little casa nova son. She'd heard them last night while she was in the hall, but wasn't going to let it show. She was still their mother, and certain conversations needed to be had. As soon as possible, in fact.

* * *

When Hex arrived to talk with Bookman, he was going over some files on his desk, only looking up to notice that Hex wasn't actually in her usual bad mood for an early arrival. He chose not to make any commentary on the matter, instead closed the dossier and looked at Hex directly.

"Arrangements are being made concerning the subject of Undershaft, ones that I am required to inform you of, despite the fact you're not directly needed for them... yet. Call it advance awareness, if you will."

"Oh? That's why I'm here so early?" Hex arched an eyebrow as she sat in front of Bookman's desk. "Or is it concerning her?"

"No, just Undershaft today." Bookman replied. "Next Monday, we will have a full briefing on what I am about to tell you, and our mole inside the subject's inner circle is going to be joining us by phone. I want to make this clear; you are to do your assigned role and not jump the gun. As much as I dislike the idea, you have some bad blood with the subject... Koko Heckmatyar."

"Get to the point so I don't have to relive any of that." Hex growled through her teeth.

"Operation Undershaft is designed to get Miss Heckmatyar under the control of the CIA. Her influence as an arms dealer is substantial, as you're keenly aware." Bookman explained. "Our current model is designed to have her acting as a sort of puppet for us, to smoke out her fellow dealers that we aren't expressly aware of."

"And where is she now?" Hex asked.

"That, I cannot tell you due to your history together." Bookman gave her a level stare over the lenses of his glasses. "What I can say is that we're arranging for her to have a meeting with one of our existing puppets, to form a contract that we can then use to arrest her for questioning."

"That won't work." Hex shook her head slightly, crossing her legs at the knee and putting her hands on the chair's armrests. Bookman of course picked up on the pose she was _not_ known for. "What you need is to leave her with no options. Strong arm tactics that don't require gunfire. Puppetry strings can fool a fool, but not someone like her. She'll see right through that trick and refuse the contract, probably making some reason to convince your dummy dealer."

"What do you propose?" Bookman could tell this wasn't entirely Hex's line of thinking... At least not the Hex he knew. It seems as though her Lifelink to Black Star Empress was changing the women, almost as if they were taking on elements of each other more and more with each passing day. Case in point, Empress' seating pose that Hex was currently using.

"There's this quote I heard recently. Do you remember that Captain from the Umbrella Corporation that had the burns on the side of his face?" Hex asked, and Bookman nodded, remembering the meeting for the XOS-3 Exosuits earlier in the month. Both of them had been in attendance, of course, but Hex had spoken to the Captain off to the side afterwards, soldier to soldier, as it were.

"Captain Tobias Darkwood, yes. I do recall the young man. I presume it's his quote?"

Hex nodded once, very slowly before saying the line. "'To truly kill a man, you take away his power. To kill a weapon, give it more power and it shall subsequently destroy itself.'" Hex smirked darkly. "You keep thinking of her as an entity. The weapon, in the Captain's quote, if you will. What you need to do is think of her as a human, a person... and that means instead of feeding her all that power, we do the complete opposite... Take it all away."

"What do you have in mind, Hex?" Bookman evaluated this new perspective for a moment. "Pulling the rug out from beneath Koko Heckmatyar wouldn't possibly be as simple as that... would it?"

"There's more than one way to end someone's life, Bookman." Hex smirked. "Koko's life is more than just her career... Give me her location, and I can guarantee you that I will have the means to sweep that rug out from under her feet in three days or less."

"I can give you two. No more." Bookman drummed his fingers atop the dossier of Koko's files. "And I want your word that this is strictly a recon mission, not an attack out of vengeance."

"You have my word." Hex nodded, and Bookman handed over the dossier without another word. "I'll be at my desk if you need me." With that, she tucked it under her arm, stood up and left his office to begin reading the intel on the white haired woman.

Bookman's phone rang barely a moment after Hex had left, and he picked up the handset, almost certain that he knew who it was.

"I take it you were able to catch on that I was influencing her the entire time? She's quite an angry woman, but more than capable in her field."

"Is the Queen aware of your meddling?" Bookman internally shuddered at the thought of Black Star Empress finding out about her partner being manipulated like that.

"I'm sitting with her right now. It was her idea."

"Was all of that just to point Hex in the right direction, or was it steering her by force?"

"The first option, Bookman. I assure you, you'd have known if I was using force on Hex's mind. I believe the word for what happens is a 'nosebleed'?"

"I understand... Thank you for the assistance, Black Gold Saw." Bookman hung up, and heaved a sigh.

"What have I done to deserve this?" He spoke mostly to himself, acutely aware that the red horned Otherworlder was able to still eavesdrop on him with her powers.

* * *

Black Gold Saw carefully pressed the button to disconnect the line before curling her finger into her teacup and raising it to her lips. Across from her, Empress was looking quite pleased with the results of their combined magic on Hex.

"I knew summoning you was a wise choice to make." Empress also sipped some tea. "It pains me to know that your capabilities are so severely diminished in this world compared to in Otherworld."

"I assure you, my Queen, I am still a force to be reckoned with." Black Gold Saw smiled at the compliment. "If I may be so bold, has she truly grown aware of the capabilities she possesses in having a Lifelink to such a powerful mage such as yourself?"

"Think of Hex as if she were a young girl experiencing puberty for the first time. With guidance, patience and enough time, she will learn how to better use and understand our Lifelink. The fact she is a human leads me to grow wary of possibly turning us into some sort of Human/Otherworld hybrid." Empress explained. "You are my Royal Court Mage, so I trust this theory in you that as time goes on, I may also inherit aspects of Hex's personality, and her of mine. It is a trait never seen before in our knowledge of Lifelink's. Had you and I shared one, neither of us would have had our personalities bleed into the other like this."

"Am I correct in presuming you've experienced aspects of her in yourself ever since confirming that she and you bear a Lifelink?" Black Gold Saw sipped her tea again, her gaze unwavering from her Queen's face.

"Her aggression..." Empress nodded. "I find myself growing needlessly infuriated at even the most trivial of matters. And I've caught myself adopting some of her terrible posture more than a few times. I shudder to imagine the thought of physically hybrid aspects... Imagine the state of my breasts if that were the case? It concerns me just as much as her needless rage already plagues my thinking."

"I assure you, my Queen, you needn't worry about _that_ particular detail." Black Gold Saw smiled knowingly, since she was the current mid-ground between Hex and the Queen when it came to chest sizes.


	28. Chapter 28

"Hey, Valmet..." Koko kept her voice low, barely moving her lips to speak. "You see them too?"

"Yeah, we're being tailed. But why? We haven't brought on anyone's attention, and this is England, the gun laws here are quite restrictive."

"Not quite. Just better enforcement and safety training." Koko replied to Valmet's comment about firearm law in the country, which actually had nearly identical gun laws to the United States. English citizens weren't as reckless with their firearms in comparison though. "But no... I haven't done anything either. And they've even got a couple women, I swear two of them were in the lingerie section with us earlier."

"You think they're CIA?" Valmet asked, remembering Koko talk about Scarecrow and Schokolade at one point. "Isn't Scarecrow poking around at your finances?"

"Hmmm..." Koko considered the idea. She'd have to talk to Schokolade about it, discreetly if necessary. Big Brother wasn't one to trifle with, even for her. "Maybe. Schokolade did indeed mention he's keeping tabs on my money, but never mentioned sending tails."

"Someone else, perhaps?" Jonah and Rock came wandering over to deposit two armfuls of clothing for Strength, who was currently with Dead Master having fun at a rack of clothes.

"We'll hang onto that one." Koko smiled at him without thinking. "Alright, after they get their last batch of outfits, we'll head over to the shoes for your sisters to have some fun. Then we need to grab some lunch, grab her gift and head to the tailor for her suit."

"Then we're done?" Rock, who was a bit bored, let out a small sigh.

"We have one last stop to pick up ingredients for dinner, then yes, Blake, we're done for today." Koko's smile widened at her youngest daughter's relieved expression. "Don't forget, tomorrow you're cooking dinner. Do you need anything while we're at the supermarket?"

Rock already knew she had the ingredients she needed, finally able to make her chickpea curry. "No, I made sure to set them aside so nobody ate them."

"Alright, I can't wait to see what you're planning." Koko teased, but in the back of her mind and corner of her eye, she was still wary of the tail they had.

* * *

"I knew it." Hex was more than pleased that Koko had children, two of which clearly seemed to be hers, the boy and the smaller girl with glasses. The other two girls, the tiny one and the tallest that also had glasses, didn't look much like her and were likely adopted. "How very human of you, Koko... two kids of your own, and you adopted two more... Too bad it's all gonna blow up in your face."

Hex quickly sent a text to her team, all CIA members that were also assigned to Undershaft, informing them to pull out and regroup. Beside her, the technician brought on for electronics, Schokolade, was idly munching on a large pretzel while keeping an ear on the team's radio line and their directional microphone listening in on Koko's parenting.

* * *

Jonah and Rock, being able to hear the heartbeats of anyone within twenty feet, easily picked up on the radio chatter buzzing in the ears of the people that had been following them for the entire shopping trip. So with nods, they separated like a pair of ghosts to get the drop on the men and women acting casual or browsing the clothes. It was their eyes, however, that gave away what they all were, which was soldiers. They all had that same gaze and hints of body language.

Suddenly all of the team received a text message at the same time, another giveaway, with a mix of vibration setting or ringtones. Jonah had snuck up on one and got a good look at the message, from a contact named 'Hex': 'Primary intel secured, all Undershaft operatives regroup and return to staging post for further orders.'

Armed with that, Jonah was already gone before the man had even finished reading the two line message. He then walked away, unaware that he'd passed Jonah hidden behind a pillar with a price check device and a fire extinguisher.

Returning to Koko, Jonah saw that Rock was already there, drinking a soft drink with one hand.

"Mom, we're clear now. Our tail's backing off to regroup." Jonah didn't care nor acknowledge that he'd just called Koko 'mom', continuing to speak in a calm tone and low volume. "Whatever they heard, the seem to have gotten at least some of what they wanted. I think they're taking orders from someone by the name of Hex."

Koko's pupils dilated for a moment, and Jonah could tell she knew whoever Hex was.

"I'll tell you about her when we get back home. Now's not the time or place."

* * *

Schokolade's phone buzzed in her pocket to signal a text message. But she ignored it, knowing that it was one of two people; Scarecrow or Koko. More than likely the latter, considering the fact that woman had eyes as sharp as her tongue, maybe even sharper. Schokolade kept up her duties for another few moments until Hex spoke up from behind her shoulder.

"Not answering that?"

"It's probably my usual partner, goes by the handle 'Scarecrow'. He's probably just noticed I'm not in today." Schokolade shrugged. "Or it's a friend of mine, it is my personal phone after all."

"Where's your issued satellite phone?" Hex, being the leader of the recon operation, had to at least ask the question.

"In here." Schokolade patted her leg pocket where that phone was able to be seen. "My phone's in my back pocket."

"Hmm... I see." Hex refocused, ignoring a second message from the techy's personal phone.

* * *

Koko knew that sending two messages instead of one would make better cover after realizing that Schokolade wasn't answering right away. And of course, using her personal number instead of her CIA sat phone - which she also had the number for - was a smart move to begin with.

"Schokolade's not answering, I think she's in on the operation, somehow." Koko whispered to Valmet as she slid her phone back into her purse.

"Isn't she a tech specialist?" Valmet asked, and Koko nodded. "You think Bitch Tits was standing close by, huh?"

"I can't believe you still call her that." Koko laughed slightly. "I mean, it's probably true, all we can do is wait for her to send a reply.

"Why do you call her that, Valmet?" Rock asked as she pushed the shopping cart of clothing to the checkout.

"Her boobs are huge, and she's an even bigger bitch." Valmet, quite stacked herself, replied completely seriously. "I know that look, kiddo, and if I had to guess... somewhere around the same size as mine."

Rock smirked, knowing that her glance down at Valmet's own big chest gave away her next question about the Hex woman.

"So why does she use Hex as her handle?" Jonah asked suddenly.

"It's German for 'Witch'..." Dead Master replied from ahead of them. "I saw it in passing a while ago, didn't really care since I can't speak the language."

* * *

By the time they were finished paying for Strength's clothes, Koko's phone buzzed in her purse to signal a text. She effortlessly had it out and in one hand while her other was gripping one of the total of eleven bags that they all had two of each. The message was from, of course, Schokolade.

"Hmmm..." Koko quickly read the message before sliding her phone back into her purse. "That might become a major problem..."

"It's her, isn't it?" Valmet asked, and Koko nodded.

"Yeah, Hex is doing covert recon on me for an operation going by the name of Undershaft. Schokolade was dragged on last minute as a techy, so she doesn't know very much. What she did tell me is that Hex is paying particular attention to my kids."

"You don't have anyone else on the CIA's inside, do you?"

"Just her." Koko shook her head, her expression grave. "I can't let her do anything to them, Valmet... They're my responsibility... they're..."

"Your children." Valmet nodded in understanding. Koko hadn't just taken them in - starting with Jonah, three years ago - for her own sick amusement. She actually cared about them. All of her daughters were from another freaking dimension, and she actually treated them like individuals. She wasn't poking into them with needles or scalpels, she was nurturing them, loving them...

And Jonah, even with his dark past and military training, was included in that love. And he was human, sharing a magical connection to one of those girls, all of whom he treated with the utmost love and respect... Except Dead Master. She was the butt of everyone's teasing.

But that still made them a family. Why Hex had to suddenly reappear in Koko's life like that, flaunting the flag of a CIA operation of some kind, was clearly a bad omen for things to come... and when they came, they would get ugly, for sure.


	29. Chapter 29

"Alright, I feel comfortable telling you all about some recent revelations that I've received." Koko announced during dinner later that evening. Strength's room was all finished, and the men had worked together to put her various furniture together during the shopping trip that the women, girls and Jonah had gone on for most of the day.

"How bad, boss?" Lehm asked before sipping his beer.

"Hex bad." Koko's reply shocked the old man, but he thankfully didn't spit out any of his beer. Instead, he slowly swallowed the mouthful and slowly lowered the bottle without a word, a silent signal for Koko to continue speaking.

"I'll get to who Hex is in a moment. But first, I've just gotten confirmation that the CIA is doing recon into me that's very different than their usual cloak and dagger methods. They're calling the operation 'Undershaft', and that's not exactly a welcoming name either." Koko, rightfully earned, had a glass of scotch in her hand, taking a small sip of the iced drink before putting it down and speaking to everyone in a serious voice. "Now, for those of you that don't know... Hex is someone that I have some... history with."

"Hex, like hexagon?" R asked warily.

"Means 'Witch' in German, man." Lutz, the resident German and jokester, wasn't even cracking a smile right now. Koko's tone put an immediate lockdown on his sense of humour.

"That's right..." Koko nodded. "And when I say I have some history with her, I mean like 'I killed her husband and she's been on the warpath ever since' kind of history."

"Oh..." Everyone said the same simple word, realizing the meaning of Koko's explanation.

"For you younger guys, we had another bodyguard years ago... A guy from my old Delta unit, went by the name of Echo. Hex lead a spec ops team after Koko in Eastern Europe that ended in us losing Echo. Hex didn't get away clean, mind you, but Echo was apparently 'just the beginning', as Echo told us her parting words were before they both backed off from their exchange."

"Echo then died in my arms with a smile on his face, right after he told me 'A boss should always be smiling, no matter how hard things get.' If I told you I was just seventeen at the time, would you believe me?" Koko heaved a sigh before taking another sip of her drink.

"So now Hex is CIA, and they've set their sights onto you." R concluded. "But what the hell are they coming after you for anyway? With that kind of history, someone like that wouldn't bother with doing recon of any kind. They'd want vengeance, and fast."

"R, it's been sixteen years... Hex clearly learned to develop a lot of patience since them." Lehm shook his head. "And most of that time was spent in the US military and CIA itself. Only one problem not a lot of you are aware of..."

"What's that?" Lutz asked, while most of the more recent members of Koko's team, Ugo, R, Mao, Tojo, and all of the kids, were staring at Koko warily for an answer.

"I met Hex earlier this year... and it almost went Tarantino." Koko finished the last of her booze and set the glass of ice on the table with a small clinking of the cubes. "It was in Prague, for that contract I got a bad vibe from and we bailed early."

"So that's what happened?" Everyone save for the girls understood the particular event now, even Jonah. Only Lehm had been in the meeting with Koko at the time, the rest of them had been out in the SUV's waiting for the meeting that was only planned for 20 minutes in length.

"That's right." Lehm sipped some of his beer with a slow nod. "Not sure what's bigger on her... that chip on her shoulder or her rack."

Valmet could already feel the razor sharp stares coming from Rock and Strength, both of whom had A-cup chests that barely even filled their own bra's. None of them men, however, dared to even sneak a look at her chest, since it was well established to be a capital sentence of death by knife.

* * *

After dinner, Rock and Jonah went up to their room, finding Roxy was already asleep on the bed, curled into a near-perfect circle.

"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to hide." Jonah knew Rock was masking some of her thoughts at the moment. He knew what they were too.

"What's the big deal with this Hex woman and her chest?! Even Valmet was talking about how big it is!" Rock's French accent somehow made her rant sound slightly more cute as she paced back and forth in the middle of the room. "And Lehm too! He made a similar comment, to compare her big attitude with her big boobs!"

"Tell me how you really feel." Jonah spoke up from his seat at the desk,having sat down almost immediately and let her start her pacing. Rock's ranting woke Roxy up almost immediately, but the girl didn't notice her Corgi trotting back downstairs to finish the rest of her bowl of kibble.

"What is it with human men and large breasts?! Is there some special trait a woman has with them? Why?!" Rock held up her arms, which had actually been moodily crossed over her chest until that gesture, but they quickly returned to where they were as she spun curtly on her heel to start pacing back the other way. Jonah smirked slightly at her naive comment, so blissfully unaware of the facts that were within arms reach for her, yet hidden in plain sight.

"Well... it's all a matter of perspective." Jonah replied, knowing he was sounding cryptic, amused and cheeky, despite it actually being the truth. "As an infant, when a mother holds them in her arms, the mother's chest would appear to be larger due to the proximity of the infant's face." Jonah explained, holding his hand close to his own face. "That then becomes an instinctive notion, and after puberty, becomes a sort of fantasy, even for adult men. A sexual fantasy, of course."

"So you're saying it's what human men find appealing?" Rock's arms tightened against her small chest as she spoke.

"Not exactly." Jonah shook his head. "Not all men develop that fantasy. See... there's also the fact that a woman's womb is located here." Jonah gently embraced her from behind, and placed one hand flat against Rock's lower stomach. "The very source of life itself, of course. And that fact, to create life, is worshiped in a similar manner, through a sexual fantasy derived from size."

"And what would that be?" Rock still hadn't let go of her chest, a strong symbol of her insecurity about it's small size after all the comments about Hex's massive boobs that likely rivaled Valmet's.

"Some men think of themselves as 'boob men'..." Jonah gently used his upper hand to hold her wrist against her chest. "They're the ones I mentioned first... But the ones I just mentioned now... they're known as 'ass men' or 'booty men'..."

With a quick spin, Jonah had Rock react to instinctively wrap her arms around his torso to steady herself, leaving him to grab two firm grips on her beautifully sized and shaped backside, holding her perky cheeks in a loving embrace. Rock's voracious appetite, combined with still being in the midst of puberty, had finally given her a perky, well shaped backside that still had the right amount of jiggle without seeming disproportionate to her small height and frame.

"They think that because of the placement of the womb, the ass is better than having big boobs. No matter what." He kissed the top of her head with a growing cheeky smirk. "Now you get it, don't you?" He leaned his head down to whisper into her head. "I'll take booty over boobs any day... Preferably _yours_ , of course."

" _Smartass_." Rock quickly peck her lips against his exposed cheek, her eyes turning that strange, yet safe version of her Insane purple, glinting mischievously long before the glowing appeared. "Now you're just asking for it."

"Was I being too subtle?" Jonah tauntingly arched his eyebrow for a moment. "Or not subtle enough?"

"Mmmm... that's not important anymore." Rock extended one hand to lightly push their door closed, already pushing Jonah backwards to their bed as they made out.

* * *

Hex, finally finished compiling her mission report, heaved a sigh as she dropped her pen into the middle of the documents scattered across the coffee table of the safehouse. The only sounds she could hear at the moment were the cicada's outside and the occasional whisper of wind rustling the leaves on the trees. Complete and utter silence.

"You can stop hiding now." She suddenly spoke up. The silence felt... _too_ silent, and she knew it wasn't without a reason.

"You have been requested to come to bed by the Queen." A new voice she didn't know spoke up as a pair of horns seemed to rise from the surface of the hardwood floors, around which rippled like water as the Otherworlder smoothly rose to stand before Hex's Glock 19 several inches away from her nose. "I am not a threat, my Queen summoned me here directly to provide assistance as her advisor, as is my actual job in the Royal Palace."

"So who're you?" Hex knew Empress wasn't going to provide any input right now, otherwise she'd sense if the woman was delving into her brain.

"I am her Majesty's Royal Court Mage, Black Gold Saw." The red horned woman gave a bow with one hand - clad in red-tinted black skeletal gauntlets that made her hands seem far to big - pressed flat against her own respectably sized bust. "Bookman is already aware of my presence here, as is the security forces around the building. Put your weapon down, you are being asked politely to get some sleep, by the Queen no less. Need I remind you that my title of Royal Court Mage isn't just some fancy title... If I must, I will use force, either magical or physical, I am more than capable of both."

"Don't hide like that, it gives me a reason to hate you." Hex holstered her gun and marched across the room with a scowl.

"I've been inside your head, Hex. I know what you are capable of..." Black Gold Saw suddenly sank into her magic ripple like a stone into water, only to suddenly shoot back up in Hex's face, making her suddenly stop and reach for her gun again on instinct, but Black Gold Saw had already grabbed it during her sudden rise, holding it up as she continued speaking. "But you don't know what I am capable of. You will find your weapon with your documents in the morning. I will not alter nor handle them in any way, shape or form. Now, go to bed."

Hex's glare had the power to make any human tremble in fear, but this horned cunt didn't even bat an eyelash until Hex herself moved past her and went to join her partner. The red mage then, as declared, placed Hex's gun on top of the documents laying across the surface of the coffee table before sinking into her ripple again with a tiny splashing noise.

* * *

"Give me a good reason why I should let her live, Empress." Hex's tone was venomous as she came face to face with her Lifelinked partner sitting, wide awake, at the desk with her signature leg-crossed pose with one arm on her thigh while her other was resting her elbow on the armrest to support her tilted head with the raised hand, looking expectantly amused.

"Because she's more than capable of killing you before you even had a remote chance of succeeding." Empress replied, ignoring the anger radiating off of Hex in waves. "And because I require her assistance, meaning you need to remember the simple fact that she holds no allegiances to you. Only to me. In fact, Beast doesn't even get along with her back home, neither did my youngest. My oldest and her are the best of friends, of course."

"You are the center of all of this, aren't you?" Hex's tone became deadly. "You brought your middle daughter as a bodyguard, then you bring in the _bitchiest_ sub-ordinate you must have, Linked to me some-fucking-how... and all of this is just to find your baby girl after she up and jumped through an inter-dimensional portal that _you_ can create whenever you _want_!"

"I require you to be in a reasonably calm state of mind for this conversation." Empress ordered in an icy tone. "Otherwise I will continue to withhold information from you, not just concerning our Lifelink, but also for my daughter."

"How can I be calm with all this shit combining into a huge clusterfuck around me?!" Hex snarled, pointing over her shoulder to vaguely indicate Black Gold Saw, Black Rock Beast and implied Black Rock Shooter, wherever the little girl may be. "Now I have my _actual_ job to deal with, which is hunting down the woman that killed my husband sixteen years ago!" Hex felt the shift in Empress' mind at that comment and kept going. "Yeah! That's right! Undershaft! Even I had no idea she was the target for that whole mission! I talked Bookman into permitting me to rework our plan to make her into our puppet. Now it's designed to force the bitch into a corner while we pull the proverbial rug out from under her feet!"

"I will not warn you again, calm down." Empress took a firm tone, despite the potent revelation into Hex's psyche.

" _FUCK YOU_!" Hex was too pissed to think straight, and paid the price for that anger when she was suddenly grabbed around her shoulder from behind in a steely grip that almost immediately robbed her lungs of air.

"Force it is, Hex." Black Gold Saw smirked as the CIA soldier struggled to breathe in the bear hug she was doing around the woman's arms and ribcage. "I will only release you when you have calmed down."

Hex was too busy trying to escape, her legs kicking uselessly as she failed to break free, robbing her of even more precious oxygen in her body.

"Let her breath, I have something else in mind." Empress smoothly rose to her feet as her horned subordinate minutely relaxed her nearly fatal grip around Hex's torso, earning a loud gasp for air and rough coughing from the trapped human. "Since you're Lifelinked with me, this will not hurt you. I am going to enter your mind, and even with our Link, you cannot stop me. I am just looking for one thing, and it will be over momentarily."

"This is bullshit and you know it." Hex snarled as Empress came intimately close to her, pressing their foreheads together with a smirk.

"I never said it _wasn't_." Empress replied before invading Hex's mind. In just a few seconds, she found what she wanted, storing another memory she found along the way for later reference. "See? I told you."

"What were you looking for?" Hex demanded, still angry and still very trapped in the horned mage's arms around her shoulders.

"Your true feelings towards me." Empress replied as she stepped back to the desk chair and unclasped her cloak's chain to let it fall over the back of the chair. "The mind works in amazing ways, you see... there are things one feels that they aren't even aware of, not limited to, but including how they really and truly feel about the people they encounter." Empress explained with a slightly vague hand gesture. "If you and I didn't share a Lifelink, I would've put you through excruciating physical pain, as well as the fact it would've taken me much longer to find what I wanted since your mind would've resisted my intrusion. It isn't something from our Lifelink. If I did it to Black Gold Saw right now, she would be screaming in pain on the floor."

"Not so special now, are you?" Hex sneered at her captor with a smirk, only for the horned mage to tighten her grip and narrow her scarlet eyes.

"You're lucky you're still alive right now. A few more seconds would've broken your ribcage into dust had my Queen not ordered me to spare your life." Black Gold Saw wasn't even subtle about her counter-threat towards Hex. She knew Empress was watching quietly until they stopped bickering. "You may bear a Lifelink to her, but that doesn't make you worthy of any sort of praise from us."

"Black Gold Saw, that's enough on the matter. Hex, please... let me finish what I have to say." Empress held up on hand to silence the bickering women. Both turned their gazes to the seated Queen, who continued speaking. "Now, during my search, I also found and duplicated a particular memory that piqued my interest. I am telling you this as a show of good will. However..." Empress' mismatched red and blue eyes turned into a stern glare. "However, Hex... I will not divulge what exactly I took until I feel the time is right. Considering that I graciously told you that I took it, I think you shouldn't feel the need to object on that particular detail."

"I get your point." Hex scowled, but had a noticeable note of strain in her voice from Black Gold Saw's still tightened grip on her lungs. "So if you wouldn't mind letting me breathe again..."

"Are you calm?" Black Gold Saw asked pointedly.

"No, just trying to breathe..." Hex gritted her teeth as she struggled to fill her lungs as much as possible.

"Then you get nothing until you are calm." Black Gold Saw enjoyed a moment of sadism as she tightened her grip even further, making Hex cry out in pain as her ribs audibly creaked. Hex's vision grew fuzzy as her face began to turn blue and her movements weakened further and further as tendrils of blackness began to creep into the edges of her sight.

"That's enough. Release her." Empress' voice managed to break through the hazy state of Hex' brain seconds before she was about to start losing consciousness. Of course, the animosity between them continued as Black Gold Saw unceremoniously dropped to onto the floor in a wheezing, weak mess.

"Leave us... Properly." Empress crouched down in front of her chair in a smooth motion, only briefly staring at her mage advisor to give the order. "You are to retire for the night as well, you've done and said enough."

"I bid you good night, my Queen." Black Gold Saw only had eyes for her Queen as she performed that same palm-to-chest bow as she'd done while introducing herself to Hex downstairs. She then sank into her magic ripple without breaking their eye contact and completely vanished.

"I... am going... to enjoy it... when... I kill her..." Hex spoke between her wheezing and coughing fits. "And you... can't... stop me."


	30. Chapter 30

"My final recon report." Hex placed the gathered documents she'd compiled onto Bookman's desk with a pointed glance at her watch as she sat down in the same chair she'd been in the last time they'd spoken. "With seventeen minutes to spare. I told you I could do it."

"How many rounds of ammunition did you fire in the past 47 hours and 43 minutes since I last saw you?" Bookman wasn't joking as he turned the dossier around and opened it.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Hex declared with a faint note of pride in her voice.

"Try me." Bookman turned the page that was in the front, showing Koko Heckmatyar's known profile. Next was a list of bodyguards known to be in the woman's employ; American Delta Force, Japanese SDF, Finnish RDF, German Anti-Terror Police, ex-Mafia, Vietnamese Army, Italian Bersaglieri - The man that Bookman already knew was their mole, Renato Socci, despite Hex's report not detailing such intel - each of the individuals bore a brief profile beside captured images of their respective faces; seven men, one woman.

"I haven't had a firearm within my vicinity since I left until 1:30am last night. And even with it on my person for the past seven hours, I haven't fired a single round, of any caliber, since I last spoke to you the day before yesterday."

"And how does it feel? Knowing you haven't had your finger on a trigger in almost 48 hours?" Bookman turned to the next page, which showcased four more photographs of similar style to the bodyguards. However, it was four young teenagers; one boy and three girls. Like the soldiers, the also had short profiles, but had slightly more detail. The boy and the bespectacled girl with the long black hair and incredibly pale skin were Koko's own children, Jonah and Blake, 15 year old fraternal twins, while the other two; the tiny West Indian girl, Sarah, and the tall thin bespectacled girl of Eastern European heritage, Dahlia, were both confirmed to be 17 and adopted by Koko.

"It just feels like I haven't had a gun in my hands." Hex replied dismissively. She knew she came very close to discharging her weapon inside the safehouse last night during the exchange in the living room with Black Gold Saw. "Now then, my recon report."

"Some of the intel in here is already known to us, so I suspect you added it as a formality." Bookman continued to read the report detailing Koko's family structure, as well as the location of her home in rural Sussex county. A respectably sized civilian home with a large plot of land tailored to their personal tastes and needs. Noted in the drone images were signs of recent construction, with the added section circled in red marker - by Hex herself - with the word 'new area' written beside it. It wasn't a very large addition to the structure, likely a single room like an office, bathroom or bedroom.

"I did, yes." Hex nodded. "However, due to your time reduction, I was unable to also include phone taps to my recon, which was part of my original 72 hour time frame."

"Though noteworthy, taps would've been only a small luxury addition to this report." Bookman reached the next page, which was Hex's final summary, the whole point of her recon. It also included her proposed input towards Undershaft as a whole for the meeting on Monday, two days from now. "I shall read your report as provided, then collect and combine your new findings to the existing profile we possess for Koko Heckmatyar. As a show of your non-violent efforts for this recon operation, I shall send you a full copy of the new profile as soon as it is completed."

"Send it to my desk, I'm in all day for Empress' op." Hex stood from her seat and turned to leave, only for Bookman to stop her.

"I'm not sure you're aware, but the Queen called for assistance from her best expert, she arrived..."

"Oh, believe me... we've met." Hex spun on her heel to stare at Bookman. "And it's only because of Empress that I haven't killed that horned bitch yet. For reference, Bookman... Black Gold Saw and I, we don't get along... At all."

"Black Gold Saw, despite what may have transpired between you two as individuals, is here as the Queen's trusted personal advisor. Just like how Black Rock Beast is acting as bodyguard for her mother. Their loyalty lies with the Queen, and as such we shouldn't put our foots into our mouths if we wish to succeed and find young Miss Black Rock Shooter as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"And, hypothetically, what about when we _do_ find the brat? Do we just... move on? Proceed to the next phase of the whole operation? What about the two of us having a Lifelink? Won't that bring about some sort of issue or decision-making conversation?" Hex was surprisingly calm as she spoke to Bookman, despite the rather fiery undertone that her words hinted at.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Black Gold Saw's amused voice spoke as she smoothly rose out of her ripple in the center of Bookman's office, her large armoured hands on her hips as she turned her scarlet gaze towards Hex for only a moment before setting her sight upon the portly man behind the desk. "In the meantime, I have a message to you, Bookman, from the Queen."

"Of course, I am ready to hear it." Bookman gave no real reaction to Black Gold Saw's sudden arrival. He simply closed Hex's report and clasped his hands atop the dossier and focused his attention on the Royal Court Mage standing before him with her staggering 6'7" height.

"She wishes to know the current progress on locating Princess Black Rock Shooter with the methods she was told you are using at the present time."

"Hex, that would actually be a question for you to answer." Bookman turned to the other woman glaring at the red mage's expectant stare directed at him, as if ignoring Hex's own gaze entirely. "What is our current progress?"

"Seeing as you can do that teleporting puddle thing, I'll just show you how it's coming along." Hex spoke to the mage, who only now turned her attention to the woman with mutual dislike in their eyes. "I'll say your name when I get there, it's through some security checkpoints. I think respecting that much wouldn't be too much for you to handle?"

"I shall inform my Queen in the meantime." Black Gold Saw sank into her ripple the moment she finished speaking, leaving Hex to leave for the dedicated operations room set for finding the girl.

Bookman let out a small hum as he returned to reading Hex's report, which detailed a plan to secure and capture at least one of Koko's four children and force the woman into cooperating with the CIA, which would be followed by pulling the proverbial rug out from beneath the cornered woman, bending her to their will. It even went so far as to keep the captured child in secure custody as a constant means to rattle Koko's chains at even a hint of defiance.

"I was right... She _is_ becoming more like the Queen..." Bookman closed the dossier now that he'd finished reading everything inside. "If only this plan had some sort of aspect that didn't make me feel so uneasy about it..."

Shaking that thought out of his mind, Bookman called for the technician that Hex had brought with her during the recon op, Schokolade, to begin compiling the new profile from Hex's report. When she arrived a few minutes later, he gave her his instructions with one hand resting atop the dossier.

"Schokolade, while you do this profile update, I want you to put together background checks on the woman's bodyguards. Create individual profiles from that, and add it to the master folder of Koko Heckmatyar."

"Right away, sir." Schokolade accepted the dossier and brought it back to her work station, already sending Koko a message to say she had access to her entire profile and would send it as soon as she could get away with it.

* * *

Koko let out a slow, relieved sigh after reading the text from Schokolade. Luck was on her side today. "I hope this lucky streak applies to more than just dealing with the CIA..."

"Good news, I take it?" Lehm was passing by on his way to the front porch for a smoke and caught what Koko had said.

"Schokolade's gotten her hands onto my entire CIA profile, legitimately, and said she'd send it to me as soon as she could do so without getting caught. She is my mole in their ranks, if you think about it."

"So once we get ahold of it, you think we should start making plans in case they make a move?" Lehm raised one eyebrow as he pinched his cigarette between his lips right out of the pack.

"We'll go over the profile first, then we can work something out." Koko nodded slightly. "For now, it's pretty clear that the CIA has backed off for the time being."

"And if it was Hex involved with that Undershaft operation, she must have someone pretty damn powerful holding her leash back home since she didn't go full homicide on you." Lehm pointed out as he leaned his shoulder on the wall with his arms crossed. "How that person even managed to do that is beyond me."

"The funny thing about the two of us is that I'm actually the bad guy." Koko smirked. "She's supposed to be the hero in this whole facade, but she acts like a rabid dog while I'm sitting here with four loving children, plus the fact I carry my own leash. I don't need it to be held for me."

"Couldn't have said it any better." Lehm grinned for heading outside for his slightly delayed nic fix.

* * *

When Koko received her CIA profile - every single page, including Hex's final report from her recon mission - she quickly printed it all out and arranged it on the coffee table with the curtains closed in the front window. For this she spent nearly two hours reading every single scrap of information that the CIA had for her, her crew, and even for her children. When she reached Hex's mission report, she was quick to noticed that Hex had been doing that recon as a revision to the Undershaft's main mission design of coercing her into a rigged deal with a dummy dealer - which she already knew that detail about them - and then arresting her on false charges.

However, as she read Hex's proposal, it became very clear to her that Lehm's comment wasn't wrong about Hex having some sort of powerful handler keeping her in check. It almost felt as if... she herself would've done things like this...

For some reason, the image of Rock's face flashed in Koko's mind, a strangely familiar connection forming in her mind as she stared at the page. This style was clearly not Hex's mentality, and if she had a powerful handler able to keep her in check...

"Oh fuck..." Koko wasn't one for assumptions or jumping to conclusions, she needed more facts... evidence, hard proof to verify the very troubling hypothesis forming in her mind concerning Hex's new methodology. "Dead Master! Rock!"

The bespectacled sisters quickly arrived at the summons from their mother, both curious.

"I need you to... read something. Tell me what kind of person you think wrote this, their... personality, I mean." Koko handed over the page detailing the final report, so they both began to read it.

Initially they were suspicious, then as their eyes scanned the words, they grew wary until Rock suddenly gasped and back away from Dead Master, holding her hands against the top of her head as she paced back and forth like a caged animal.

"I knew you'd pick up on it." Koko nodded grimly as she gently hugged her distraught daughter, her baby girl out of her four kids. "I think... that Hex may be in close contact to your mother."

"How the fuck did she find me?!" Rock had tears streaming down her face as she held onto Koko, the one person on Earth that was keeping things from spinning out of control around her.

"She didn't... Hex is under the impression that you're just a normal human girl. The Hex I knew would've proposed attacking me head on in the streets with a squad of soldiers under her command. But now that she's got Queen Bitch by her side, she's a lot more devious and level-headed than what she's known for... And that means we're in for a shitshow once the CIA catches up to us."

"Then we're at the disadvantage, aren't we?" Dead Master had already finished reading the entire report and even though she was quite a sadist, even she thought that Hex's plan to imprison one of them to force Koko into a trap was disgustingly cruel.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Koko declared. "What we need to do now is share what we've got with the others, during which I'll detail the major flaw I found in the plan that they're going to use on me for Operation Undershaft."

"And what flaw is that?" Jonah suddenly spoke up from the coffee table, having read the main proposal the CIA intended to use for capturing Koko. He didn't have Koko's razor sharp mind, so whatever the flaw was, it was subtle enough for Koko to exploit and the CIA to miss it entirely.

"They're underestimating what I'm really capable of." Koko smirked darkly. "And unlike Queen Bitch, I know the way that Hex thinks. A tyrant like her, just using Hex as a powerful attack dog, has no idea what's in store when dealing with a loose cannon that's as emotionally unstable as Hex is. Hex is her strength... and her weakness, but she's thinking just the 'here and now' of an Earth battle. She hasn't planned ahead, nor has she taken into consideration that I'm aware of her plans in the first place."

"So Hex is our target?" Jonah concluded as he put the page back onto the coffee table.

"Sun Tzu once said this..." Koko gently released Rock now that her baby girl was finally calmed down. "If you know your enemy, and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of one hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. And if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

"So which one do you fit into right now?" Dead Master, despite not knowing who Sun Tzu was, had followed along with what Koko was talking about.

"I know myself, quite well in fact. And with Rock's help, I'll be able to know Queen Bitch herself. Therefore, I need not fear the results of this battle. I've got 99 more to go." Koko smiled warmly at Rock, who had a determined expression on her face.

"So where do we start?" Rock already picked up on the fact they would be in for more than just a little fun during this encounter with Bitch Tits and Queen Bitch together. She already had one bitch to keep track of, she didn't need one with big boobs and another with a big ego.

She was more than satisfied by the little one with the big goofy ears, thank you very much.


	31. Chapter 31

Later that week, after getting the details of the Undershaft meeting from Schokolade - who had actually been officially inducted as a techy - Koko was more than willing to lead the CIA by the nose into thinking she'd fallen for their whole operation. In fact, it was the complete opposite, she had every single detail of their plans as if she'd been personally in attendance during all their conversations and meetings. On top of that, they had no idea what she was doing in the background to counter them, so it was, suffice to say, very enjoyable for her to control the entire chessboard before the game had even started. She was also aware of the fact that R was their mole, but he made it absolutely clear that his allegiances were with Koko, not some psychotic Queen from another dimension. That comment earned a hearty laugh of approval from Rock, which was secretly the only reason that Koko's trust in the Italian man didn't plummet through the floor.

So, present time, Koko had already received the farce request for her to meet with the CIA's dummy dealer in Prague the following day. Right now she was setting out some last minute preparations for Roxy to be sent to their usual dogsitter again, while all around her, her crew and children were waiting with a tangible aura of menace thickening the air around them in the evening's semidarkened living room.

"We leave as soon as our girl picks up Roxy." Koko closed her laptop with a curt click.

Nothing more needed to be said, just sadistic grins forming on most of their faces while one particular pair of eyes began to glow with purple light that flickered with intense inner fire.

Not even flying would dissuade her from this.

* * *

"I bring grave news, my Queen." Black Gold Saw rose from her ripple in a kneeling pose with her hand over her chest and her head bowed low.

"What is it?" Empress had been passing the time watching the news on television, since at her core, she was technically a politician. She wanted to know what was going on in the world she was residing in.

"We've managed to identify a possible match for Princess Black Rock Shooter, with a 78% accuracy comparison." Black Gold Saw, receiving no declaration to the contrary, stood up to her full height to reveal that she was holding a folder that contained a single photograph.

"Is that so?" Empress didn't dare waste such a high percentage and quickly stood upright from her relaxed pose on the couch, admittedly wearing casual human attire instead of her cloak and gown. "Let me see."

"It gets worse, my Queen..." Black Gold Saw handed over the enlarged passport photo depicting the bespectacled girl with sapphire blue eyes and extremely pale white skin. "It would appear that she is Hex's intended target for her Undershaft operation, the one she left for Prague yesterday... Concerning one Koko Heckmatyar, a merchant of weapons with strong political manipulation influences."

"Can you reach her in time?" Empress was on high alert now. She was too far from Hex to successfully use their Lifelink, and her Portal Spheres were limited in capabilities since she hadn't left the United States of America since her arrival months ago.

"It pains me to admit that I cannot on my own. I would require both yourself and Lady White Rock Shooter to assist me for such a long ranged teleportation, and we both know summoning her isn't worth the implications brought about by abandoning the Palace."

"What can we do with power from just the two of us? It pains me to know you and I are still weakened by this world's lack of ambient magical energy." Empress was maintaining her cool, despite the rising urgency of the situation.

"At best, we would first need to use a Portal Sphere to be on the coast of this country... then I can get us across what they call the Atlantic Ocean, to reach another country known as Spain. From doing that, a rest of at least thirty minutes would be able to provide me with enough of my own magic to transport us directly into the city of Prague. By then, your Lifelink's awareness should provide you with Hex's general direction, and from then on, I can use my ripples to hop us along while consulting your Lifelink as guidance. We would hypothetically meet up with Hex within three or four hours, at the most."

"Then we must prepare for an immediate departure." Beast commented from her silent approach from the hallway. Unlike her mother, she was never seen in human attire, instead keeping her own outfit, armour and weapons in pristine condition at all times. "I suggest conserving as much as your magic reserves as possible, mother... You'll have to prepare your robes manually."

"Then you will assist me, post-haste." Empress quickly strode into the master bedroom where her Royal attire awaited, with her middle daughter quickly falling into step at her heels.

* * *

"Alright, all set for opening moves, boss." Lehm reported into Koko's wireless cellphone earpiece. "Proceed whenever you're ready."

"Remember Sun Tzu." Koko replied before taking out the device from her ear and ending the call before disabling the bluetooth signal for her phone. If it died at a bad time, she wouldn't be pleased. Then again, she'd had it plugged into the SUV's socket for just that sort of event, and it was at 97% charge. "Alright, we're going. We know ourselves and we know our enemy... we've got 99 more battles to go before we should feel the need to worry."

With that philosophical motivation, herself and her four children climbed out of the armoured vehicle and made their way into the arranged meeting by the CIA. None of them had taken any chances and were prepared to use their respective weapons; Rock with her Cannon and Blade, Dead Master with her scythe, Strength with her Ogre Arms, and - a very new surprise - Jonah with his own version of Rock's Cannon.

He'd apparently been able to do it for several weeks, having practiced with it in secret alongside Rock in the evenings down at the firing range. His was of similar construction and capabilities, but the bolts that his fired were bright scarlet like his eyes, and the weapon itself also had a red undertone to the glossy black surface.

He also had a Blade of his own, with that same red hue in the metal, but his blade wasn't as thin as hers, appearing more akin to the blade of a broadsword than the very katana-like nature of Rock's Blade.

* * *

Hex was already in her tactical gear, doing final checks on her FN SCAR-H and her usual Glock 19 in preparation to capture at least one of the brats that Koko had brought with her for the meeting. In particular, the youngest, Blake, was a likely candidate to make the arms dealer bend over backwards to save her baby girl. Hex smirked slightly at the notion, imagining Koko bawling her eyes out while she was forced to watch the little shit being tortured and screaming for her mother.

* * *

"I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, Miss Heckmatyar. I eagerly await your final decision on the matter." The CIA dealer played his role well, and bowed his head respectfully after Koko gave him a definite 'I'll think about it and get back to you later today' answer before shaking his hand and standing to leave the office, outside of which they could both hear her children's bored voices chatting back and forth.

So far everything was playing just the way she'd anticipated. The next course of action for for Empress to make a bold move with her proverbial Queen piece in this chess game, Hex. She already knew the dummy dealer was sending a message as she collected her children and returned to her vehicle.

And she was right, because the next sequence of events were exactly as she'd called them; Hex and her special ops team, Cutthroat, were already waiting outside in full gear, all weapons directly aimed at Koko's nose with quivering laser sights adorning her pale skin and utterly relaxed expression.

"Been a while, hasn't it Hex?" Koko didn't even need to turn her head to see Hex's huge rack barely able to hide behind her kevlar body armour. "January, right?"

"Enough crap, Koko." Hex ordered sharply. "On the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America, you are hereby under arrest for charges of terrorism and smuggling of illegal firearms."

"Really?" Koko's smile widened. "Did Empress come up with those ones? Or was it Bookman?"

Hex's expression hardened at the question, but nobody moved. Even the men of Hex's killsquad were wary of the commentary. They could tell these women had personal history that needed to be sorted out first.

"You brought it upon yourself by becoming an arms dealer." Hex took a step forward, but Koko chuckled at the commentary.

"You know me, Hex..." Koko's face was still her signature Cheshire smile, but her tone had darkened substantially, making the men's fingers quiver against their rifle triggers. "And I know you. So why don't you tell me why you're letting Black Star Empress tote you around like a leashed dog? I know all about Undershaft, you don't need to talk about that. Just the Queen Bitch herself to go with your own title of Bitch Tits."

"Shut up!" Hex brandished her assault rifle aggressively. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

" _That's funny, because judging by the way your expression just changed, you can understand what I'm saying right now._ " Koko smirked as she flawlessly pulled off one of the triggers to prove Rock's recent theory concerning Hex and her mother potentially sharing a Lifelink like herself and Jonah did. That trigger, of course, was by speaking Old Speak.

Hex was stunned by the achingly familiar language that flew over the heads of her men. "No... It can't be..."

" _So you're the bitch with the boobs I keep hearing about_." Rock kept up the conversation in her native tongue, moving around Koko to address the only female commando in the unit. " _I'm surprised they haven't custom-made a set of body armour for you. Doesn't look very comfortable, isn't it?_ "

" _YOU!_ " Hex immediately swung her rifle towards the elusive little Princess she'd been dragged into finding for several months now. " _I'VE HAD ENOUGH SHIT TO DEAL WITH TODAY AND NOW YOU HAVE TO SHOW YOUR FACE?!_ " She snarled in angry Old Speak, keeping her laser sight aimed directly at the girl's throat. Regenerative powers or not, it would put her down long enough for them to grab her and get to extraction.

"For you gentlemen still... Hmm-hmmm... l _ost in transition_ , Hex has been drafted with a top secret mission by my mother to try and find me. I'm well aware of what she's after, Hex... Buuut you can't have it, and neither can she. So why don't we make things interesting before word reaches the Queen Bitch herself? I already know she's on her way."

At those words, Rock's eyes turned purple, then her eye flame ignited, but it wasn't blue this time... it was that same vivid purple.

"Strength, iron up!" Koko called out to the tiny girl, who was already slamming down her disproportionately sized mechanical limbs in front of Koko as her other children brought forth their respective weapons to stand protectively around Koko's protective barrier.

"You want Koko, you have to get through us first, Hex." Rock lifted her own weapon almost straight into Hex's face, making her stare down the brightly glowing interior of the barrel. The weapon's sheer length easily putting her Belgian assault rifle to shame. "And if you know who I am, that means you also know what I am capable of."


	32. Chapter 32

The FN SCAR-H, a reliable and stout rifle, with the man-stopping 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, also known as .308, had a slower rate of fire than the average assault rifle. That lack of speed, however, was made up by the round's hard hitting stopping power and excellent accuracy. In the hands of a proficient user, it was a deadly weapon...

Against humans, that is.

Hex and Cutthroat were more than proficient with the weapon, but they couldn't land a single shot, let alone a graze on the three teenagers that rushed them down with their heavy black metal weapons. That was also discounting the tiny girl's massive robotic arms that shielded Koko from head to toe with seemingly impenetrable metal.

Within seconds of the first movements, three of her men were impaled by the three blades, and by the time they managed to recover their focus and react, they were forced to spread out to avoid the huge Cannons that were wielded by the fraternal twins, used just as much for melee combat as their respective swords.

"Take them down!" Hex yelled as she backed away from Dead Master, who was lazily twirling her scythe as a shield to deflect the bullets.

"Oh my, is that not working out for you?" Dead Master taunted as the rounds tinged and pinged against her weapon. "Not very smart, are you?"

"SHUT UP!" Hex growled as she hurriedly reloaded a new magazine into her rifle and brought it back up to her shoulder.

"Every bullet you fire just delays the inevitable, Hex. You can't win." Dead Master continued her slow pace closer and closer to Hex, still deftly blocking the bullets. "You're just her pawn, she doesn't care if you live or die."

Hex growled in frustration at the jab about Empress. "I SAID SHUT UP!"

"Make me." Dead Master smirked, knowing that the worse they got Hex's emotions before Empress arrived, the better things would be for them. "I'm actually quite enjoying myself, as it is."

"You're all freaks, you don't belong here on Earth!" Hex growled at the girl bearing down on her while her men were being cut down around her by the younger siblings.

"Who said we did? I didn't exactly get to choose where I was deposited when I arrived, after all."

"STOP TALKING!" Hex fired her last round and loaded her third magazine, fumbling slightly in her haste. She had one last rifle mag after this one, then she had to use her pistol... Not that it would really do much good in comparison.

"Stop going after Koko and Rock, then I'll think about it." Dead Master taunted right back. "You amuse me too much."

Hex recklessly emptied the mag without releasing the trigger, then shoved the final mag into the gun, firing wildly from her hip in the vain chance that it would throw her off. It didn't, and Hex unslung the rifle from her shoulders and threw it aside while drawing her pistol with both hands on the grip.

"Enough games!" Hex ordered, already tensing to start firing when she felt a blade swinging towards her and dodged at the last second, only to suddenly scream in pain as one side of her face was slashed, exploding in agony and a burst of red blood.

"For once, Hex, we are in agreement."

Jonah, who had been the one that had taken out Hex's eye, spun around to see who had spoken, but a powerful strike to his stomach sent him flying back to land beside Rock, who had taken a similar attack at the same time. They both landed with barely a grunt and sprung to their feet in an instant, coming face to face with the end of Black Star Empress' mace, the source of their sudden relocation.

"Miss Koko Heckmatyar, I wish to speak with you... _Immediately_." Empress, in her powerful tone, was not pleased by what she saw around her. She knew the merchant of weapons was behind the familiar Ogre Arms of Royal Guard Captain Strength, and slowly turned to the protective barrier while expanding her mace's shaft into full length as a staff, thudding the end against the ground at her feet with a booming note of menace. Behind her stood Black Gold Saw and Black Rock Beast, both watching the Queen in silence.

"You arrived sooner than I expected." Koko appeared from behind Strength's arms - which she moved into a more reasonable pose instead of a wall of metal - and carefully regarded the Queen Bitch herself with her Cheshire smile firmly in place. "How may I address you?"

"You may address me as Empress, Miss Heckmatyar." Empress stepped forward only two paces. "Sit with me, we have much to discuss regarding my daughter."

With that, and a wave of her free hand, Empress created a small table and two chairs, upon which was a tea set for two. The two women sat opposite to each other, while Hex rose to her feet with one hand over her wound.

"What are you doing, Empress?!" Hex demanded as the two women calmly prepared their tea before going ahead with their discussion.

"Mind your tongue, Hex. I am taking matters into my own hands now. You shall be attended to by Black Gold Saw for your wounds momentarily." Empress replied, holding her mace-staff in one hand as it smoothly shrank back to it's former size. She leaned it against the side of her chair before taking her teacup in both hands and stared at Koko, who was doing the same. Both were ready to being talking. "Now, Miss Heckmatyar... How has my daughter been behaving in your care?"

"Quite excellently, actually." Koko replied. "And of course her combat skills are as honed as ever, as you can likely see for yourself."

"Indeed." Empress sipped some tea. "And I can't help but notice that boy of yours is carrying a copy of her Cannon."

"They're Lifelinked. Just as you are to Hex." Koko smiled slightly. "I assure you, it's quite a new detail itself."

"How long has she been in your care?"

"Since her arrival, about... mid-summer." Koko replied, also taking a sip of tea. "We noticed their Lifelink within about a week."

"And is she well cared for?"

"Absolutely."

"Is she happy?" Empress pointedly raised an eyebrow.

"You and I both know that's not a question for me to answer." Koko knew she was being bold. "Only she can answer that."

Empress smiled slightly, then turned her gaze over to her daughter, still sporting the purple eyes and flaming eye. "Are you happy here?"

"I am." Rock replied flatly.

"I see." Empress turned back to Koko, her expression thoughtful for a moment. "Are you aware of the meaning of the colour purple in my world's culture?"

"I am, yes." Koko sipped some more tea. "We're not sure about it's origins, to be honest. I've already seen that the flames are normally blue like her eyes usually are."

"Hmm, quite." Empress seemed amused for a brief moment. "And you've clearly proven to be a capable parent in my stead... so I propose a... deal, of sorts."

"I'm listening." Koko didn't take her eyes off Empress' face at the choice of wording.

"I will allow her to stay here with you on Earth, without any interference, on one condition." Empress turned her gaze to her youngest daughter with an expressionless face. "You know what I want."

"May I ask what it is?" Koko queried, also staring at the girl - who was slowly reverting back to blue flames and eyes - that was just as unreadable as her mother, which worried her.

" _No_." Jonah spoke up suddenly, raising his Cannon towards Empress. "You're _not_ taking that away from her!"

"Jonah... Don't." Koko ordered suddenly. "Put it down. _Now_."

"She wants Rock's voice." Jonah didn't listen to the order to stand down. "Her literal _voice_ , Koko... I won't let her take it!"

"You either lose _her_... or you lose just her voice, child." Empress was amused by the boy's loyalty - evident in his weapon and eyes, of course - towards her daughter that she actually smiled at him. "There is nothing else I will accept for her to remain here. As such, it is my daughter's decision to make, not yours."

"Then you leave us something in return." Jonah scowled. "Understood?"

"We shall await her choice on the matter before we get to that detail." Empress replied before turning back to her daughter as she approached the little table with an unimpressed expression.

"That's all you wanted this whole time, isn't it?"

"Yes, child, it is."

"So what will happen to me if you do take my voice?"

"I believe the human word for it is 'mute'?" Empress lowered her teacup to the table and seemed to ignore the weapon beside her shoulder, eyes only on her daughter. "Speaking simply won't happen. Words will not come from your lips, but you can still laugh and make other noises as per usual. You simply cannot speak. I'm sure there are ways that you humans have created to work around such an issue? And not to forget your Lifelink to the boy here, you are still able to think and send your thoughts to him without hindrances."

"So just words?" Rock was making sure by repeating the conditions she would be restricted from.

"You will still have all language knowledge and such." Empress nodded. "That is my price for you to remain on Earth with the boy and the woman."

"If I say yes... What are you offering for Jonah's demand?" Rock glanced at her partner for a moment.

"I shall give your entire group individual gifts, tailored to themselves... as well as a collective gift; that being the ability to speak, read, write and understand Old Speak. Do you object to this at all?"

"Include me in that list, then I will agree to giving you my voice." Rock declared flatly.

"My dear, you were already included. You needn't ask." Empress nodded once, then glanced at Jonah's Cannon. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, young man... I wish to stand."

"Jonah... it's over. Put it down." Rock put her hand on top of the barrel, staring at Jonah as he finally complied, dismissing the weapons in his own scarlet light. "She named a price, and offered compensation along with it... It's the only way."

"I don't like this..." Jonah's voice shook as he fought back the urge to cry.

Rock sighed slightly as her mother stood up and retrieved her mace. "I never said I liked it either, y'know... I just agreed to the terms."

"I shall give you two a moment." Empress knew it was a hefty price for them to accept.

"I will always love you, you know that." Jonah hugged her, tears stinging his eyes as she did the same to him.

"You belong to only me, Jonathan Mar... And I, to you. I love you." Rock grabbed his face and passionately kissed him, already aware that those would be the last words she ever said to him as she felt the magic seal that was forming on her tongue.

When they separated, Koko slowly rose from her seat with a slight frown at the touching display. "When shall we be expecting your gifts to arrive?" She kept her tone calm and polite, knowing that things had honestly gone as smoothly as they possibly could.

"By the time you return to your home, you will find them there with your group's names specifying which is which. I am already aware of where you live and who lives with you, including my daughter's pet, Roxy. Your ability to understand Old Speak is likewise waiting there for you."

"From Operation Undershaft, I presume?" Koko smirked.

"That is correct." Empress replied before turning to Black Gold Saw. "See to Hex at once, we shall return home with her by way of her originally intended methods."

"As you wish, my Queen." Black Gold Saw bowed as she always did, then carried out the order to heal Hex's slashed face with her magic.

When it was done, the woman, now bearing a scarred face similar to what Valmet had, glared lividly at Koko as she stood upright.

"This isn't over."

"I am well aware of that fact, Hex. You don't need to remind me." Koko replied without looking at the commando. "It's just over _for right now_."


	33. Chapter 33

Lehm and the others had been listening in to the whole exchange by radio, so nobody said much at all until they finally returned home, finding a pile of various sized packages waiting for them alongside a floating pale blue orb of light. There was also a note from Empress.

"As agreed, your compensation gifts. Touch the orb to receive the ability to understand all forms of Old Speak. It will vanish after you've all received the knowledge."

Koko was the first to touch it, and it only rippled slightly with a small hum, but otherwise gave no other reaction. Nothing painful happened to her, she just shrugged and moved out of the way for the rest of the adults to do the same until finally it popped like a soap bubble after Lehm casually tapped it with his index finger.

"We'll figure this out, alright?" Koko could tell that things would take some getting used to now that Rock was mute. All sounds were fine, she just could not talk... It would require at least some practice to know what was still enabled for her. "So is there some sort of thing that happens when you try talking?"

Rock extended her tongue as far as it would reach, displaying the Old Speak rune on the surface. It was legible for them all to realize that they could indeed read it without even a moment of concentration.

"' _Silence_ '." Koko read the rune as if it had been written in English. "Huh, that sarcastic fucking bitch..."

Rock retracted her tongue, and - to actually answer Koko's question - attempted to simply say Koko's name. Her mouth moved just like normally saying it, but only air came out. No sound.

"I see..." Koko was able to lip read, and could tell that Rock tried saying her name as proof of the magic. "What about other sounds?"

Rock nodded, humming in thought for a moment. She then started making as many non-speaking vocalizations that she could think of, from giggling, humming or sighing to even attempting phonetics instead of words. Most worked, in fact. Some didn't, for one reason or another.

"So you're not totally silent... that's something, at least." Koko gestured for Rock to give her a hug, which she did. "You're still my baby girl, remember that. Our little Princess..."

Nobody saw it, but a tiny tear slid down Koko's face and into Rock's hair when she said Rock's nickname.

* * *

Two weeks later...

For the most part, everything went back to normal for the household. Koko still had the occasional meeting or delivery, they protected her. All in all, back to business. The only difference was Rock had a very interesting new device at her disposal to fool her mother's magic.

It was originally something that the crew had encountered in Malaysia, in a seedy city called Roanapur. An individual they came across, a very goth woman with a huge throat scar, had a small device attached to a choker necklace around her neck. During the brief moments they saw the young woman, they could hear a very robot-like voice coming from the device as she clearly spoke without making a sound to a male and female companion with her.

That woman, Sawyer, was quickly approached by Koko and asked what the neck device was doing to allow her to speak like that. The goth smiled very slightly before beginning to explain. "It uses the vibrations of my vocal cords to translate what I am saying. If you know someone unable to speak due to an injury, it would serve as a means of conversation capability rather than learning sign language or a text-to-speech device."

"And where would I be able to acquire one such device?" Koko asked, sounding and more than likely looking very hopeful.

"I believe the American pharmaceutical company called The Umbrella Corporation just came out with a newer model earlier this month. Judging by your appearance, traveling isn't much of an issue." Sawyer smiled. "They're not very expensive, actually. A couple hundred dollars, I believe."

"Thank you, very much." Koko clasped the woman's hand, sneakily giving the woman some local money. "I really appreciate your assistance."

Now, present time, Rock's normal choker necklace had the circular Umbrella device attached without issue, and - thanks to an included computer program that came with the device - she was more than pleased by that oh-so-familiar French accent that she and Jonah decided to program the device into using. Even better was the fact it sounded almost perfectly human, unlike Sawyer's older model.

"Just another trip to the airport..." Jonah chuckled as they stood in line for security checks on their way back from a meeting in Egypt. They would be coming back on the weekend to do the delivery itself, which was small arms for a local mafia.

"You and I both know zat zis vill not go smoozly." Rock replied. "I 'ave Roxy and my voice adapt'r... you still 'ave a bullet lodged in your butt cheek."

"I never said it wouldn't, did I?" Jonah replied as Rock was already brandishing her medical documents - now with the addition of her throat injury requiring the adapter on her neck - to the security guard, who read the papers and sighed.

"Understood, please remove the device and lower the dog for a standard security check." The officer returned the documents while the girl did as she was asked. In under a minute she was on her way to the bench where her family was waiting for the two of them.

"I already heard, young man." The guard chuckled slightly. "Might want to arrange a surgery to remove it when you get back home."

"Why waste money when I could just wait the extra two minutes for a security check?" Jonah replied with a smirk as he held up his arms as usual.

"Hmm... you might have a point." The guard chuckled as the detector did indeed go off when passed over his backside.

* * *

"Zis 'as to be my favourite recipe." Rock, now quite proficient at cooking the chickpea curry from her novel that Koko had given her ages ago, was making quick work of preparing a late lunch for herself and Jonah after they'd missed eating with everyone else due to staying at the range for a practice session with their Cannons. "It's simple, filling, and tastes good as vell."

"I agree." Jonah smiled slightly. "Only catch is it's not a quick preparation."

"Zat is true... But you and I both know zat it's vorth ze vait." Rock giggled at his impatience. "So try to be patient, it is almost finished."

"Hm-Hmm..." Jonah chuckled slightly as he moved behind her and kissed the side of her neck, above her choker. "You're teasing me too much for that."

"I am 'andling a 'ot pot right now, Jonah." Rock, despite how much she wanted to kiss him, couldn't let herself get distracted from her cooking. "I vill be more zan 'appy to continue vith zat when I am finished."

"So you do want it..." Jonah kissed her neck again, but backed off for now... Not without sneaking a hand down to playfully squeeze her backside, earning an unmuted little ' _eep_!' of surprise as she was startled by his bold teasing.

"You of all people should know zat fact..." Rock's cheeks were pink as she spoke. "But for zat, I am taking 'alf your portion of curry for myself."

"Worth it." Jonah chuckled again, backing up to sit at the small kitchen table that wasn't used as often as the large dining table in the next room. His simple comment also gave away the fact he was enjoying the view just as much as he enjoyed the teasing. "In more ways than one."

"Pervert." Rock chastised him, well aware of where he was looking. The fact that he only had eyes for her was still as exciting as ever, and made her feel quite proud of her appearance and her figure.

Although she was still as short as ever, her body was still maturing quite nicely, and though they were still small, her bust was growing too. Her backside, however, was still absolutely perfect; the absolute equilibrium of shape, size, muscle and fat to keep it perky, tight and still have just the right amount of jiggle. And of course, her legs as a whole were catching up to that level of perfection. She was more than willing to wear her signature black shorts just to tease Jonah and show off her booty and legs, which was what she was doing right now, a sly smirk forming on her face as she finished preparing the curry and prepared her heaping bowl with his reduced portion added to it. The modest remainder was his, because he was being a smartass.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: For reference, this story's timeline began in August, and as of this chapter, is in the last week of October. I have also chosen to do add a semi-canon bonus segment to this chapter, a bonus scene of sorts. While it offers nearly nothing to the overall plot, I think it's worth adding simply for amusement purposes. That segment I'm talking about will of course be the Halloween scene at the end of this chapter. I will state where it begins in bolded text, like how this part is written, and it will finish off this chapter as per my usual style.**

* * *

Valmet stared out the window across from her seat at the crew's meeting table, completely oblivious to Koko's voice. Her mind was hundreds of miles away, remembering the sickeningly familiar bayonets on the female officer's pistols back in South Africa.

Flashes of the incident that robbed her of her right eye played in her mind. She knew that the man that wiped out her unit had nearly identical blades on his own dual sidearms, and still recalled to this day that the man was Chinese with a distinctly shaped nose, like part of the bridge had been injured...

Suddenly Koko leaned into her field of view, startling her back to the present.

"You alright?" Koko asked with a teasing smile.

"I uh... yeah, I'm alright." Valmet took a moment to shake her head to refocus. "How much did I miss?"

"All of it." Lehm chuckled dryly. "We were just going over a backup plan in case the mobsters try to pull a fast one on Koko like back when we took on Ugo."

"Anything I need to know in particular?" Valmet asked, but Koko shook her head.

"Not really. If you need to sit this one out, it's alright with me."

"Yeah... actually, I think I should." Valmet put her forehead into her hands, trying to rid herself of the slightly PTSD-like flashbacks.

Rock knew the look on Valmet's face, narrowing her eyes slightly as the tall woman heaved a sigh. It was pretty clear to her that something was troubling Valmet far too much.

Jonah picked up on Rock's thoughts, likewise evaluating what could've been bothering Valmet. Then he recalled the bayonets on Chen's officer's pistols back in South Africa. He almost immediately put two and two together as he likewise remembered that Valmet's FRDF unit was attacked here in Egypt all those years ago.

The two of them shared a glance, well aware that Valmet would need them both by her side.

* * *

"I took a look at the merch, Miss Heckmatyar. Them's some mighty fine pieces." The Mafia member in the front of the group spoke with an approving smile on his face, smoking a cigar as he spoke to Koko.

"And they're all yours as soon as you hand over the payment for them." Koko held up the keys to the three trucks lined up behind them. "As we agreed, of course."

"You heard the lady." The mobster gestured over his shoulder for a nearby lacky - who was holding a briefcase - to step forward to hand over the case. "Give her the case."

Mao stepped forward to receive it, and presented it to Koko after popping open the latches. Koko's face darkened considerably as she set her gaze upon the contents.

"We also brought along some high quality merchandise. Sell it for the right price and you'll make even more than we agreed on."

"I asked for payment..." Koko took one of the bundles of cocaine and pierced the plastic wrapping with one of the keys in her hand, then held it up. "Not worthless white powder." She then dumped the drugs out with a deadly scowl, already gripping Rock's Colt that was lent to her by the presently absent girl for this exact situation.

"You _whore!_ " The mobsters were all staring at the cascading powder in shock, unable to react in time as Koko brought the .45 caliber pistol to bear and immediately executed the leader with the cigar.

In an instant Strength was blocking them from attacking Koko with her Ogre Arms, both unconcerned as the rest of the crew took down the remaining thugs and goons with their own sidearms.

"Should we bother burying them?" Lehm asked as they finished clearing the men out.

"Dead Master, do your thing and make it quick. We need to get back to the hotel to contact HQ about these guys trying to set us up."

"You got it." Dead Master slid her Glock back into her leg holster concealed beneath her dress, raising one hand that was already glowing with green light and curled it into a fist before she enunciated the incantation for her spell.

Interestingly, all magic incantations from Otherworld were actually said in Old Speak, but had to be infused with a mage's energy before they could become magical words. Specifically, the word for her incantation, on it's own, was just the Old Speak word for 'burial'.

As the spell took effect, the corpses of the mobsters sank into the ground with a slight churning of dirt around them, leaving no traces in their wake as they all turned back to the trucks and left.

* * *

At the same time, Valmet had been pacing back and forth in front of Rock and Jonah, who had also stayed behind to keep an eye on her in case she went rogue on them.

"All these years, I finally get a clue about who the guy was that took out my unit. What makes it worse for me is that I can't act upon it." Valmet explained to the two teens. "I'm almost positive that Chen's the man that did it... And I can't shake the feeling that his officer from when we went after Dr. Miami was trained by Chen too."

"So vat do you intend on doing? I of all people should know vat it's like to not be able to zink clearly." Rock asked as she idly cleaned her fingerprints off her glasses with the hem of her tank top.

"There's nothing that I can do, Princess." Valmet stopped her pacing to regard the girl seated on the couch. "Not only is Chen in South Africa, but Jonah also killed the woman while we were there. If anything, going after Chen himself isn't worth the effort. I guess I'm just getting myself all worked up over nothing..."

"You vant to avenge ze deas' of your comrades... But now zat you know who did it, you are conflicted vith deciding if ze man is even vorth ze effort." Rock was quite perceptive at times, including right now. "Sometimes violence creates more problems zan it solves. By choosing to spare Chen, you are actually ze better person. Leaving 'im alive might not seem all zat vise right now... but in ze long run, you vill find peace vith yourself, vich is vat you really search for, isn't it?"

"How did you...?" Valmet was amazed by Rock's display of wisdom that was clearly beyond her years.

"I forgave Dead Master. I zink that is explanation enough." Rock smirked as she put her glasses back onto her face. "Zere vill come a time ven forgiveness vill not vork as vell as violence, but right now vith Chen... It is not such a time."

Valmet nodded in understanding. She was right. She just had to move on from her anger that she'd been harbouring for all these years. "You're right... None of my men would've wanted me to get caught up in a petty little feud over something so trivial."

"This isn't trivial, Valmet." Jonah shook his head, having been listening the whole time in silence. "What Chen did can't be glossed over like that. He killed your men and wounded you for absolutely no reason. Rock's not saying give up and forget about it every happening. She's saying this just isn't a battle worth fighting anymore. It doesn't mean you should just submit either... You should honour your fallen comrades by rising above the anger eating away at you from within. Become stronger than Chen, not physically... but with maturity."

"I can't believe I'm being taught maturity by two fifteen year olds..." Valmet couldn't help but laugh, but deep down she could already begin to feel the anger beginning to leave her heart.

* * *

Koko sighed slightly, idly swirling her glass of scotch with her wrist after returning to the hotel and sorting things out with HQ to retrieve the three trucks of guns. Across from her, Jonah was on his phone, using the hotel wifi to surf the internet. Rock was already gone to bed, having left Jonah with a loving kiss before removing her choker from her neck entirely as she left Koko's hotel room where they'd been relaxing with her after dinner.

For some reason, Koko was feeling the beginning traces of jealousy after witnessing her two youngest children sharing a kiss. The thought of incest never crossed hers nor their own minds because they weren't even from the same dimension, let alone blood related. The fact they were referred to as her children was entirely a cover story to hide the fact that all of her daughters were from a whole other realm of reality.

That of course, wasn't helped by the fact that Koko was on her fourth glass of scotch, none of which had been watered down with ice... Ergo, she was drunk. Not enough to acutely remember it in the morning, but certainly enough to affect her thoughts in a way that wasn't very wise.

On top of that, the room felt quite stuffy to her in her usual business attire, a blazer and collared shirt and tie with a matching skirt and low-heeled shoes. She had half a mind to at least shrug off her suit jacket, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to actually take the twenty seconds to do it.

Instead, she was staring at Jonah's much lighter attire, a polo shirt and cargo shorts with his usual boots for footwear.

"I know that look, Koko." Jonah spoke up suddenly, piercing through the slight mist of her drunken mind. "Whatever you're planning to do, I can't let you do it."

"Say what?" Koko blinked in confusion, only to feel him confiscating her drink from her unresisting fingers. "Hey, I wasn't finished with that!"

"Koko, we have a plane to catch in the morning. You've had enough to drink for tonight, you need to get some sleep now so that you don't have a hangover at the airport." Jonah's levelheaded tone had Koko's undivided attention, crystal clear for her compared to the slightly fuzzy background noises.

"I feel fine." Koko was actually holding herself together quite well. "I mean, compared to how I usually feel after four drinks of scotch..."

"Which is why I'm going to be keeping an eye on you." Jonah replied - Rock was already aware of his intention, despite Koko not knowing the fact - as he gently took her by the hand and helped her rise to her feet.

"Jonah, I can handle myself." Koko smiled slightly. "This isn't like that time in Paris..."

"We agreed not to talk about the Paris thing." Jonah shook his head slightly. "I'm still staying here for tonight... _because_ of the Paris thing."

"Now who's the one talking about it?" Koko teased as she finally shrugged off her blazer and kicked off her shoes by the chair, depositing the jacket across the backrest as Jonah moved aside for her to get herself to the bathroom to get ready for bed. "I'll just be a minute."

When she came back out after brushing her teeth and getting a drink of water, Jonah had already gotten the bed ready for her and was unlacing his boots at the chair he had been sitting in earlier. He would go to sleep only after Koko had fallen asleep herself... again, from the Paris thing.

"Try not to stay up too late." Koko already knew what Jonah was going to do. So, that still meant she had to keep up her 'mom' status and remind him anyway. She carefully got into bed and shut off the only light that Jonah had left on while she'd been in the bathroom.

"I won't, don't worry." Jonah pulled out the earbuds for his phone from his pocket and put them into his ears before connecting them to his phone to resume what he had been doing earlier.

* * *

Even before opening his eyes, Jonah knew that Koko had pulled him against her chest while they'd slept, cuddling him with a fairly secure grip around his stomach and her legs tangled in with his somehow, with them both situated close to the edge of the bed, blankets haphazardly strewn over just Koko's back and both of their legs below the knees.

He also knew that she was still asleep, so he opened his eyes and saw that Rock was already in the room, giving him a two-finger wave from the chair that Jonah had been in the night before. Behind her, the room's balcony door - though firmly closed - had the curtains partially open, which gave away the fact she'd bypassed the hall door entirely since hers and Jonah's room was the one next door. Jonah knew he'd closed the curtains last night so that Koko could sleep easier.

 _I take it there's a story behind your lack of reaction to Koko using you as a teddy bear?_ Rock's question came through their Lifelink instead of aloud, since she also wasn't wearing her choker to use her voice adapter.

 _We call it the Paris thing. Go ahead and have a look for yourself_. Jonah replied as he brought forth the memory of that... interesting night in the French capital city from two years earlier so that Rock could receive it.

 _How drunk was she?_ Rock's eyes went wider than saucers as she received the memories. She understood why they agreed not to talk about it afterwards.

 _She still refuses to drink any form of vodka to this day._ Jonah replied, well aware that Koko had since developed a taste for scotch and whiskey as her preferred type of booze. _I think she's scared of the stuff, to be honest._

 _I can see why_. Rock blinked a few times to collect herself after the initial shock value faded. _She's not letting you go, is she?_

 _Nope. I'm stuck like this if I don't want to wake her up._ Jonah replied, glancing down at Koko's arm that almost managed to reach underneath his body to encircle his body how a Boa Constrictor would wrap up captured prey. _Rock, no!_ He added as she started to smile devilishly, clearly planning to wake her up... somehow. How she intended to do that with a Silence curse-rune adorning almost her entire tongue and no voice adapter in sight was beyond him.

 _I can't talk without my adapter, remember?_ Rock tilted her head to the side, with a very 'are you kidding me?' expression on her face. _I was just amused by how stuck you are. I can do whatever I want to you right now... as long as Koko doesn't wake up._

 _Don't you dare._ Jonah frowned at her rightfully sinister claims.

 _You can't do jack shit to stop me. If you move, Koko's gonna wake up. And we both know she's been drinking, so she's gonna be hungover and in a bad mood, for sure._ Rock rose from her seat with feline grace, completely silent as she moved to the bed and boldly grabbed Jonah's groin, which clearly had morning wood that saved her the time it took to get him hard. _You are at my mercy, Jonah... and I just so happen to be a bit horny this morning. So try not to squirm or make any noise, okay?_

Jonah couldn't will his morning wood to fall flaccid at all. Somehow refusing his wishes, it seemed to grow harder beneath her hand as she crouched down onto the balls of her feet. His body was right there at the edge of the bed, within easy reach and access for her to give him a blowjob. There was nothing he could do to stop her that wouldn't instantly wake Koko up, which in itself was trouble just waiting to happen. Hungover Koko wasn't a pleasant experience... Especially the morning that followed the Paris thing. That time was brutal.

Jonah gritted his teeth suddenly, preventing a groan from escaping his throat when Rock didn't even give him time to look down at her enveloping his length's first few inches into her mouth with a small, very pleased sounding hum that was muffled by his member in her mouth.

He was in for a long test of physical and mental fortitude, for sure, as Rock teased the tip of her tongue along every little weak spot available to her in just those few inches. Her precise minstrations were making Jonah's every nerve ignite into an inferno, his first instinct to thrust his hips into her mouth was instantly crushed by the stalwart reminder that Koko was almost literally laying on top of him.

Rock began bobbing her head, for once pleased by her short height as it worked to her advantage. She didn't have to stretch her torso out, nor was it too low of a height for her to work with. The angles and heights aligned so well that she didn't even have to shove her jaw against the mattress to suck his dick. It was just right, and that fact goaded her on to start deepthroating him without resistance in record time.

Jonah could feel every single line of Rock's Silence rune against his shaft, making for some very new sensations with each and every pass of her tongue. Much like how a blind person 'read' Braille with their fingers... He was reading the rune on her tongue with the underside of his member, burning it into his tactile memory forever.

And with that thought, Jonah suddenly felt his release rushing forth, his resistance to making a single sound faltered slightly as he let out a faint, sharp inhale that Rock picked up on since they shared enhanced hearing. She knew he was finally gonna cum and already felt his shaft's first throb.

Remarkably, Jonah managed to stay completely silent as he came into Rock's mouth, already feeling her swallowing his load, her throat muscles dragging out one more spurt for her to enjoy as she in turn swallowed every single drop without stopping. She let out another pleased little hum before dragging her runed tongue along his length as she withdrew and cheekily winked at him before stuffing his softening cock back into his shorts.

 _You're evil sometimes, you know that?_ Jonah couldn't stay mad at her, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn't like the whole thing was one-sided, after all.

 _It's fun to be a bad girl... 'cause then I set myself up for some punishment._ Rock winked coyly as she licked her lips seductively, only to suddenly flinch in surprise, letting out an unmuted gasp and taking a slight step backwards as Koko slowly sat upright behind Jonah.

"What time is it?" Koko asked blearily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with both hands.

"Six thirty." Jonah checked the nearby alarm clock on the bedside table. "How're you feeling?"

"Hungover enough to regret it, but no where near as bad as the Paris thing." Koko lowered her hands to see Rock standing beside the bed with an amused expression on her face and one hand on her hip. "Don't ask about the Paris thing... We agreed not to talk about it." She vaguely gestured towards Jonah, who was frowning at the fact they were still talking about it.

Rock held up her hands to go with an expression that clearly said 'I didn't even want to know' as she shook her head.

"Can we _please_ stop talking about the Paris thing now?!" Jonah asked as he got out of bed and went to grab his boots.

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the Halloween bonus scene. Yes, I am well aware this is being uploaded in January. When I get the story to that point, I will also write a Christmas scene, maybe even including a New Year's Eve scene with it.**

* * *

"What the hell is all that crap everyone's been putting all over the place?" Dead Master frowned at the strange decorations visible outside of the SUV's windows.

"It's a traditional holiday known as Halloween." Koko explained from the front seat alongside Tojo, who was driving the vehicle that was filled by the teenagers and Lutz, while the rest of the crew were in the second SUV behind them. "On the last day of this month, the 31st, people dress up in costumes and go visit their neighbours, who give them candies and chocolates and stuff. It's a far cry from the origins, mind you... Still a fun event that happens every year."

"So it's at night, I presume?" Dead Master was acutely aware of the 'scary' aspects of the decorations, and internally scoffed at it all. She was a Necromancer, after all.

"That's right." Koko nodded. "So, we've got until Saturday, shall I make some arrangements so you four can join in?"

"What kind of costumes would this entail?" Strength asked from behind her scarf and hood.

"All kinds. We can go shopping and see what's available, if you want." Koko knew she'd at least gotten Strength interested. Jonah was as stoic as ever, but she knew he wouldn't mind going since he was rather fond of chocolate. Rock was fast asleep after the flight home from Egypt, and Dead Master seemed interested, but was hiding it behind a facade of disinterest. There was a word for that... what was it again... started with Tsun...

"I'm surprised Rock didn't wake up when we mentioned chocolate..." Tojo laughed slightly at the resident royalty's blissfully unaware slumber.

With a slight start, Rock's head shot up and she blinked at the sudden influx of light in her eyes. "Hmm?" She hummed in acknowledgement, thinking she was being spoken to in an attempt to wake her up.

"I spoke too soon, haha!" Tojo laughed as Rock reached up to her neck to turn her adapter back on, having shut it off knowing she'd fall asleep in the SUV.

"Vat did I miss?" Rock asked, still visibly groggy, despite the adapter's usual French accented delivery of her words.

"We were discussing going out for Halloween, it's an old traditional holiday event that happens on the last day of October. You dress up in a costume, get candy and chocolates, have some fun, y'know, that kind of thing." Lutz summarized Koko's initial explanation to her.

"Vat? You mean all zis crap outside?" Rock indicated some of the decorations adorning the houses and front lawns. "You mean zat zere's actually a point to all of zis?"

"The idea is that it's supposed to be scary." Jonah explained. "Some people put effort into making every shit their pants, others don't. It's a matter of perspective."

"None of zese people vould last a day in ze Badlands, zis is nozzing in comparison." Rock let out a slightly scoff-like laugh that consisted of exhaling several times through her nose, accompanied by a slight smile.

"I think someone just bought themselves a ticket for a haunted house." Koko grinned with a mixture of triumphant meets mischeivious. "Think you can handle that, Princess?"

"You must zink zat I am easily frightened." Rock's smile and expression shifted to a taunting smirk. "Vy don't ve all visit zis 'aunted 'ouse togezzer? Last vun out vizzout screaming vins."

"Challenge accepted." Koko declared with a cocky grin. "And I know the perfect one..."

* * *

After all of the crew - with varying degrees of success - made it through the entire haunted house, they gathered at the exit to await the last two, which was first Rock, then last Jonah. They'd gone through the entire thing in pairs so that they could confirm if they screamed - which was an immediate fail to the challenge - during the procession.

Rock's costume for the year, a French maid outfit that was an intentionally risque choice, came into view through the fog machines and semi-darkness at the exit. Then came her incredibly bored expression as she came to a halt with both hands on her hips, an altogether sassy pose combined with her ironic costume and billowing fog surrounding her.

"I didn't scream. Neizzer did Jonah." Rock smirked, quite pleased with herself. "If you consider zat to be scary, you are sorely mistake..." Rock began with a cocky smirk, only to scare them all by suddenly screaming, unmuted by her mother's curse-rune, in absolute terror at the top of her lungs, likewise practically jumping out of her own skin as Jonah's own ninja costume appeared in the smoke.

With a resounding smack of skin on skin, Rock slapped Jonah with a vicious scowl on her face, her cheeks turning bright red after - despite the crew not seeing it through the fog - Jonah had snuck his hand up her skirt to tease her slit through her panties.

"I win." Jonah laughed, unconcerned by the slap nor the crew's roars of laughter since he already knew that he was in for his _actual_ punishment as soon as Rock got her hands on him when they got home.

* * *

 **A/N: Strength's costume was a princess, Koko was a vampire, and Dead Master's a witch. For reference, of course.**


	35. Chapter 35

"You've got to be kidding me..." Koko's annoyed tone made it perfectly clear that whatever she'd just been told by HCLI HQ was NOT even a hint of amusing. "None whatsoever?"

Jonah and Rock were sitting nearby, both watching Koko tapping the tip of her pen against a blank sheet of paper she had prepared at the start of the phone call from HQ. So far, she hadn't written anything down, but clearly expected to.

"How many trucks are we being provided with for this job?"

Koko's pen tapping suddenly stopped, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she started writing at a rapid pace. It took the Linked teens a moment to realize that Koko was writing in Old Speak runes, but from their angle they couldn't read them properly. Several lines of runes later, Koko paused, clearly still listening to a long explanation or a recited passage.

"And this is all a PR stunt cooked up by my... Of course it is. Yes, I'll handle it. Where's the retrieval point?" Koko made more notes, still bearing an 'I'm not impressed' expression as she wrote the runes. "You and I both know that's a powder keg situation... Oh, is that so?" Koko's tone shifted to unveiled, but still reasonably tame anger. "And what am I supposed to do with a bunch of hothead mercenaries like that from such a small-time company?"

Koko still had the sense to wait out the reply before speaking again, still angered by whatever she was hearing. "I don't care if they're already doing local protection detail for the trucks! I'm not taking this contract with hair-trigger mercenaries being anywhere near me, my cargo, or my children!"

Somehow, that slightly unplanned outburst got Koko's point across better than anticipated. She blinked in confusion, since to her two youngest, it appeared she was getting what she wanted, or at least a compromise was being suggested.

"I'll speak to him about that myself. In the meantime, I want to make it perfectly clear that I will personally bust a cap in their _other_ heads if they so much as sneeze in my general direction. I shouldn't have to explain what that threat entails, now should I?"

A short pause, and Koko smiled. "I thought so. Now, tell him to call my home number immediately." She then hung up and slid her sat phone back into her blazer's inner pocket before heaving a huge sigh and sitting back into the couch with her eyes closed, briefly collecting herself before suddenly speaking to the two of them. "Afghanistan, flight's tomorrow afternoon. We're delivering construction materials intended for building a school. Problem is that our local assets already have a PMC called Excalibur doing protection while they await our arrival. I know the company, and they're not going to be a pleasant lot..."

"So who's calling you?" Jonah asked, already eyeballing the nearby house phone's handset.

"My father, Floyd Heckmatyar... He's the one that owns HCLI itself." Koko covered her eyes with one hand. "I _intentionally_ neglected to inform him that I have four children now."

"I get ze impression zat you're not Daddy's little princess." Rock spoke up, noticing Koko's tone was very similar to the one that she used herself when speaking about her mother.

"Might not seem like it, but I'm the heir to the company." Koko retracted her hand from her face to smile at her daughter's bemusement. "So that brings along a lot of expectations from my father, since he's also my boss."

With that, the home line began to ring, and Koko took a steadying breath before retrieving the handset and accepting the call. "I presume you were given a brief summary of what I said?"

"Indeed. At the very least, I want to know your reasoning for bringing them on official business arrangements."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, in all honesty. They know the risks, for themselves and for me." Koko replied, already reaching her limit of tolerance for her father.

"How many?" Floyd asked with a an audible exhale through his nose.

"Four. Three girls, one boy."

"Adopted, I presume?"

"All of them."

"I see. Very well, I will not intrude any further, fulfill the contract in Afghanistan." With that, Floyd Heckmatyar hung up the phone, already aware of his daughter's testy tone.

Koko likewise hung up and set the phone back into the charger, letting out a slow breath again to collect herself. Rock quickly got up and sat by her side, wrapping her arms around Koko's shoulders, which was quickly reciprocated to her own.

"Hey, I think that went rather well." Koko kissed the top of Rock's head with a slight smile.

"And I zink zat you need a stiff drink." Rock countered, chuckling slightly at Koko's weak joke to lighten the tension in the air after her father's call.

* * *

"Ah... Man, I really wanna shoot summat."

"I'm gettin' all stressed out, yeah."

"Is that all? Didja see the tits on that woman up in Truck 2? I wanna shoot all'a my stress all over 'er rack, if yah know what I mean!"

"I want a round or two with Snow White the arms dealer herself!"

"Did you see the backside on that one pale lass up in Truck 3? Oh man, can't wait till she's legal! Imagine that ass after it's been aged a few more years!"

I don't think they realize this is an open channel... Lehm remained silent, as were the rest of the _professionals_ presently listening to the crude banter of the Englishmen that formed the ranks of the Excalibur PMC spread out around the convoy of eight HCLI transport trucks, all of which were being driven by the adults of Koko's crew, while Jonah was presently perched atop the front of the trailer of Truck 3 with his FNC strapped against his chest. He was acting as a lookout, while Strength was on the top of Truck 8 with her usual MP5 doing the same to watch the rear - none of Excalibur were doing that with them, stating it was far too exposed - while they drove along the road with Wiley setting the pace in the lead truck.

" _Hey, I know they're a bunch of pigs and all, but I do appreciate that one guy's compliments about my ass. Good to know it's being admired right alongside Valmet's big boobs_." Rock spoke into the line in Old Speak after all the mercs stopped laughing, well aware that none could understand her like the others could.

Now it was their turn to laugh, even Valmet, who was driving Truck 2 with Koko by her side in the passenger seat.

" _Now now, Rock, that wasn't a compliment. It's just a pig making noises through the fence, knowing he can't have what he's looking at_." Koko replied in kind to her daughter's commentary. " _A real compliment makes you feel good about yourself, not about just the one part of you that's being talked about like that_."

" _I still have a great ass though_."

More laughter, and one of the mercs managed to be heard through the line as he asked. "Hey, did any'a ya catch a lick'a that? I didn't und'astand a thing."

"Must be their local language or summat." Another merc suggested. "Sounds like it's like, Eastern European or summat like dat."

"Vehicle approaching from rear, attempting to pass." Strength's softspoken voice suddenly came through the line in English, surprising them all - Koko's crew all knew her voice and fell silent, while the Excalibur mercs were nearly smitten by it's timid cuteness - as she continued reporting what she saw in the car. "Single occupant, middle aged male, local. Appears unarmed."

"Alright, Sarah, thanks for the callout. Excalibur, clear a lane for the car to pass the convoy." Koko also spoke into the line in English, glancing into the side mirror of the truck to see the distant sedan.

"Shoot it." One of the leader mercs suddenly ordered without acknowledging Koko's command.

With a screeching of tires, one of the Excalibur Technicals moved to block the sedan, already directing the mounted M2 Browning HMG at the car's engine block a moment before a torrent of .50 cal rounds started their heavy throb of destruction.

In seconds the sedan was engulfed in billowing black smoke and roaring flames, swerving off the road into the ditch as the mercs cheered like they were at a sports game. It exploded a few moments later, rendering any chance for the driver's escape doomed before it could've even happened.

"Jonah, Blake... _Minigun them_." Koko didn't even hesitate in giving the kill order in English. The mercs were paying the price for their stupidity, just like stepping on a landmine. "Trucks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8... slow down to avoid taking any bolts from their Cannons."

Rock was quickly swinging herself out of the truck cab and stood by Jonah's side in little under four seconds, watching as Truck's 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 all slowed down to avoid the incoming torrent of red and blue bolts that would be directed at the still celebrating mercenaries that failed to notice the widening gap between the third and fourth trucks for several seconds. When they did notice, they were still completely clueless to their fatal mistake.

"Oi, Truck 4, what gives? Why you lot slowin' down?"

"If any of you manage to survive, we'll tell you." Lehm chuckled darkly, rather than his usual sarcastic dry chuckle as he watched the Linked teens spawning in their matching Gatlin Gun-mode Cannons and started firing at the same time.


	36. Chapter 36

"Oh, fuck me..." Koko grumbled under her breath at the sight of her brother's new, very familiar companion. "This better be good, Kaspar... I'm not the only one pissed off right now."

"I do believe my Queen's words were 'without interference', Miss Heckmatyar... She didn't say anything about finding out I shared a Lifelink to your brother." Black Gold Saw, using her magic to make her horns invisible, was surprisingly civil in tone and manners. "I'm sure you understand the implications of them by now."

"Can I shoot her please?" Rock wasn't even hiding how pissed she was. Black Gold Saw only got along with mages, which meant big sister White and Mother Dearest, the Queen Bitch herself.

"If at all possible, I'd like to keep the bloodshed at _zero_ today." Kaspar spoke up. "This is a business meeting, Koko. Between you and me." Kaspar held up one hand to block Black Gold Saw slightly. "I've been told that you have history together, but I refuse to let her share the memories she has of it. It's not my problem. Right now, I'm offering a contract, if you would please hear me out."

"Fine, but she waits out here." Koko glared at the towering mage, who shrugged, unconcerned.

"Whatever you wish." She turned around and sat on the steps without another word, producing a cellphone in her unarmoured hands and began tapping away at the device as Kaspar was lead inside by his little sister and the Otherworld's youngest Princess - who was still openly holding the gift from her mother, a new customized M1911a1 Government. It had numerous internal and external modifications added to it, plus it had a threaded barrel for suppressors as well as a picatinny rail for mounting accessories to her liking.

"So what's this contract you have?" Koko spun around and sat in the armchair instead of her usual place on the couch.

"Well, to keep the details simple... I want to smoke out a phantom company disrupting my deals in South Asia and Japan. If you're willing to help me, I've got some intel to go over with you and Tojo, if that's alright."

"Why Tojo?" Koko asked, narrowing her eyes. Rock noted that Koko's eyes were like chips of ice right now, hard for even her to read.

"He used to be one of them... It's the Japanese SR Squad." Kaspar explained simply. "They've also got an Otherworlder in their ranks too... a battle-mage named Chariot."

Rock's head swung to the side, staring at Kaspar just as sharply as Koko was. "I vant proof." She didn't even ask for clarification or a repeat. The name of that girl was too distinctive to warrant misspeaking.

"I was only given one picture of her. It's her eyes that gave it away for Gold Saw to find out who she was." Kaspar produced his own phone and tapped at it a few times to bring up the image, sliding it across the coffee table towards Rock. "I take it you know her?"

"I tried to kill 'er." Rock replied shortly as she stared at the captured image of the girl, with her shaggy mane of blonde hair, black tiara made of the same black metal as when she'd last seen the girl. Orange eyes with the distinctive Otherworld gear-iris, and that same doll-like face of pure innocence that actually concealed a sadistic, conniving, heartless, manipulative little...

"Rock. Back to Earth." Jonah entered the room and put his hand over the screen, already aware of the long-winded insult that Rock had been thinking. "Hey, blue." He held up one finger for her to focus on, her eyes still purple. "Look at me. Hey, Rock... Rock. I need you back to blue, okay?"

Rock's eyes slowly receded, but her slight frown remained where it was. "Ven ve find 'er... Be careful, she vill try to manipulate you. Don't let 'er mind games distract you for even a second. It's 'ow she managed to escape from me ven I vent after 'er back 'ome."

"Come with me, let's leave Koko and Kaspar alone for now. We can talk about Chariot while they have their meeting, alright?" Jonah slowly lead her by the hand upstairs into their room, closing the door just loud enough so Koko could hear it.

Once they were behind the closed door, Koko turned her gaze back over to Kaspar, who was retrieving his phone without a word.

"So what's the deal with the SR Squad? I know you better than anyone, so let's start with what you're not saying." Koko spoke with a serious expression as she regarded her older twin's slight smile.

"Well..." Kaspar knew he couldn't weasel out of that one. They were siblings after all, so that meant they knew each other's tics and habits nearly on an instinctive level. "For starters, they've got an Otherworlder. That alone's a reason for caution. However, to actually answer you... They've been flexing their muscles in Jakarta and the surrounding area, not to mention a few slick moves to have some of my meetings and deals cancelled entirely. I had an associate of mine have a look around for me, see what they could turn up."

"An associate? Who, the giant bitch hiding her horns outside?" Koko knew she was being petty but didn't care.

"Not my problem, Koko." Kaspar pointedly raised both of his eyebrows and gave her a solemn stare before continuing. "No, an associate in the local Russian Mafia, goes by the name of Balilaika. Head of Hotel Moscow."

"I know about her." Koko nodded slightly, but didn't say anymore about the powerful woman based in Roanapur.

"So, she managed to sniff out the SR Squad being the ones messing with my deals, and after some recon from HQ, I've managed to piece together enough intel to at least know the members, including Chariot, by sight. You and Tojo would be a great help for any additional intel on the group."

"Tojo would be a better source than I would." Koko let out a slow exhale through her nose, thinking for a moment. "And so would Rock, since she said it herself that she knows the girl. I take it you want me and my guys to handle things in Japan while you stir things back up in Jakarta?"

"I like the idea, but let's talk to Tojo before we consider making any moves. Is he here?" Kaspar knew that the crew as a whole - including the teenagers - all generally did their own things around the property during the day, so he didn't bother looking around for the Japanese man.

"He should be, I haven't sent him into London for anything." Koko slid her own cell phone out of her pocket and sent Tojo a text. Within a minute, he replied saying that he was on his way.

A door opened upstairs, and Tojo came down the stairs with a partially eaten apple in one hand and his phone in the other.

"You needed to speak to me?"

"How much do you remember about the SR Squad?" Koko asked, gesturing for him to join her and Kaspar in the living room.

"Quite a lot, actually. Where should we start?" Tojo quickly joined them and took a bite of the fruit, knowing he'd be in for a lot of talking.

* * *

"Hmmm... I think I can work with all this." Kaspar had been using his phone to record all of what Tojo had provided them with about the SR Squad. "I should have a plan prepared in a few days, should I come back then so I can share it with everyone?" Kaspar didn't end the audio recording yet, just in case Koko or Tojo had more to add.

"Don't bring her next time, alright?" Koko's gaze went towards the window, indicating Black Gold Saw's presence outside. "Even if she's part of that plan, I don't want her here."

"Alright, I'll do my best to convince her to stay in London or something while we have our meeting. I just want to warn you now, my best can only go so far with her. Our Lifelink's still developing, and I know you're aware of how they operate at times."

"I can accept that. Just call ahead when you're done getting everything prepared, I don't want Rock getting herself worked up like that again." Koko agreed to Kaspar's requests, including the subtle one about Black Gold Saw's potential defiance.

"I'll see you then. Take care, sis. Tojo." Kaspar nodded, scooping up his phone and ending the recording before he left the house, finding that Black Gold Saw was already waiting in their car instead of on the porch.

* * *

During dinner, Koko asked Rock to divulge her past encounter with Chariot, making it clear that it was a contingency plan should fighting with the apparent battle-mage occur while they underwent Kaspar's plan for the whole operation against the SR Squad.

"Vell... for vun zing, Chariot is ze daughter of two mages, but isn't a full mage 'erself." Rock explained after a moment to consider how to explain everything. "'owever, she can use magic, more zan enough to make 'er a zreat for surprises. Especially Mary."

"Mary?" Koko narrowed her eyes slightly at the name.

"Chariot's limited magic is almost entirely devoted to Summoning magic." Rock elaborated after taking a bite of her food. "Mary is ze name for 'er pet creation, I don't 'ave ze English vord for vat to call it... It 'as eight metal legs zat end in a single spike, a large 'ead, and Chariot 'erself rides on top of ze back end of the 'ole zing."

"Does it kinda resemble one of these?" Jonah had been tapping at his phone, then presented the screen to her, which Rock gave a very surprising reaction to.

With a startled recoil, Rock's eyes went wide in panic, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath. It took a moment for everyone to see the screen as Jonah showed it to the rest of them... It was a picture of a Tarantula spider.

"I think someone's scared of spiders..." Koko couldn't help teasing Rock for her moment of fright. "So, considering the way you described Mary, I get the image that the thing's fairly large too."

"Yes, zat's right." Rock's expression was still wary after seeing the creature that Koko had called a 'spider'. "Chariot can summon Mary venever she vishes, as long as zer is enough space. As for 'er veapons, she uses a sword vith a large circular shield, as vell as a similar transformation for 'er legs zat Strengz uses for 'er Ogre Arms. Chariot's legs turn into large disc's zat she can moves very fast vith."

"So she's gonna be a huge pain in the ass, isn't she?" Lehm got the general picture of the girl. "What about her personality? What if we meet her when shit's all calm and peaceful?"

"She's manipulative." Rock didn't even hesitate during her reply. "She vill seem all cute and innocent at first, but she vill try to lure us into some kind of trap. I don't know if zis information vill be much use now zat she's 'ere on Earth, especially since ve don't know 'ow long she's even been 'ere eizzer."

"Let's play it safe and say around the same length of time as you." Koko spoke up. "So that'd be... a little over three months now."

"If zat's ze case, she may 'ave major changes to 'er personality entirely." Rock shrugged slightly. "In battle, vizzout Mary, she uses 'er speed and 'er shield to protect 'erself, and 'er sword is razzer big for 'er size. Not big enough to require two 'ands, but big enough to make close combat troubling."

"Kaspar's intel on her had that picture of her taken in Tokyo." Koko commented, then turned to Tojo. "You and I will have to handle translations while we're there. I'm pretty sure nobody else here can speak Japanese, right?"

"I actually have an idea for that." Tojo pulled out his phone. "I happened to see this a while before you texted me to talk about the SR Squad." After a few moment of searching, he turned the phone around for Koko to see the promotional video for what he had in mind, an innovating in-ear audio translation device. "We just set these little earbuds to our language of choice and it'll translate what we hear into that language. So if Lutz set his to German, it would translate all the Japanese he hears directly into German. Or Finnish for Valmet, Italian for R and Ugo... you get the idea."

"That's brilliant!" Koko was amazed at the idea. "I'm surprised it's not from Umbrella like Rock's adapter."

"Nah, they're healthcare and medical tech." Lehm chuckled slightly, since they all knew the American corporation had quite a dark side after the meeting with that one-eyed Captain from their Security Division, Tobias Darkwood. "This is more of a media or travel thing. Pretty smart idea, if you ask me."

"I can speak nine languages, plus Old Speak on top of that... and now this thing comes to practically bite me in the ass." Koko was amused, but annoyed at the ingenuity of the device. "Alright, I'll book us a flight to the US for tomorrow so we can get ahold of these translators. I wonder if we can set them up to translate everything into Old Speak?"

"Now that's a smart idea!" Lehm chuckled in agreement. "Probably gonna need to talk to the thing's development team and weasel it out of them, eh?"


	37. Chapter 37

"Testing, testing... One, two, three." Tojo spoke in Japanese after everyone had finished inserting their earbud into their ears. He received nods and thumbs-up to indicate that the devices were at least functional. "So you guys have it set to English, right?"

Everyone either nodded or vocally agreed, so Tojo inserted his own, which after a private meeting, hefty bribe, and four days of translation work, was now customized with the newly added Old Speak language. "Alright, Koko, you know the most, let's see if this works."

"I better not have wasted that bribe money, Tojo. They played hard to get for almost the entire meeting." Koko decided to first speak in Arabic, and Tojo nodded for her to go to the next language she knew, which was French. "And considering all that translation work we did, I'm surprised it's keeping up with us."

"Good so far, six more languages, right?" Tojo asked, but Koko just kept going, now speaking Russian.

"I know that we did our best with the entire language structure and vocabulary, even if there's a minor mistake here and there, it should be enough for us to understand what we're hearing." Koko was inwardly enjoying her slightly unrestricted ranting, going through all nine languages she knew; English, Arabic, Russian, French, German, South African, Tamil, Japanese and lastly both types of Chinese. Tojo heard everything perfectly, not a single flaw reached his ear.

"Sweet! Now we all just gotta install it into ours, then we're good to go!" Koko was impressed at the results. Sure, they all had perfect understanding of Old Speak, but transcribing an entirely new language into the translator's programming had taken all thirteen of them four days to complete. Now all they had to do was set them all to Old Speak and it would be ready for use.

Koko's phone rang at that moment, so she pulled her translator out of her ear and handed it over to Tojo, answering the call from her brother.

"I'm all set to go over the plan, are you guys free right now?"

"We are, yes." Koko replied. "Remember our deal."

"She's asleep right now. You do know the whole mages and warriors thing, right?" Kaspar asked. "I'm still learning it all, to be honest."

"I have a general grasp of their differences, yes. I hope you told her our agreement before she went to sleep..." Koko had a slightly warning tone in her voice.

"I shared my memory of the whole meeting with her. She agreed to stay in London while we talk." Kaspar replied. "Chiquita's joining me though, she's involved with the plan. I already asked her to keep it cool."

"I'll let Jonah and Lehm know to behave themselves as well." Koko hung up, since nothing more needed to be said. So, she turned to the others and clapped once to get their attention. "Kaspar's on his way to brief us on the operation in Japan. I've been informed to remind you two..." She pointed at Lehm and Jonah with each hand. "That you are to behave yourselves since Chiquita's joining Kaspar for this briefing. No bullshit from either of you, understood? Kaspar also asked that she behaved as well."

"Vat's ze problem viz zis Chiquita vomen?" Rock turned to Lehm in particular, since she already had Jonah's memory of when he took down the army base to avenge his friend, Malka. Chiquita had been there, as well as directly involved.

"She's my ex-wife." Lehm chuckled slightly. "Believe me, it's a long story."

"Zat's your problem, not mine." Rock didn't bother asking to hear it. "And I already know vat she did to you." Rock gently cupped her hand against Jonah's cheek to give him a quick kiss. "So I vill 'ave to keep my eye on you, sveetie."

* * *

"So that about covers what Chiquita and the guys will be doing in Jakarta to stir up the hornet's nest you need in Japan. You end of the operation is more straightforward: Smoke them out, take them down and deal with Chariot however you see fit. I'm sure that she's not here on some mission for Empress, just got tossed into a portal and landed flat on her face." Kaspar explained everything for the Jakarta segment. "Any questions?"

"Did you happen to get that last part from your missus?" Koko arched an eyebrow to show she was referring to Black Gold Saw.

"Actually, yes. Black Gold Saw said that Chariot's not part of the Royal palace in any way, shape or form. Daughter to a pair of mages from one of the old bloodlines. 'Barely more than a beginner level student' was Gold Saw's choice of wording, in fact." Kaspar knew that Koko didn't like his Linked partner, but intel was intel, after all.

"Alright, and how about our local assets and informants in Japan? Do they also know about this whole operation, and, are they set to assist us when we arrive?" Koko continued, and it was Chiquita that replied to her questions.

"They're not aware of everything, just that you're doing a sweep and clear operation and they have backup and contingency arrangements for the aftermath. Japan's not going to let you just steamroll through with full gear as soon as you arrive. With that being said, your gear is your problem, both in and out of the country. How you chose to execute the SR Squad is also your call."

"I have my methods, that won't be a problem." Koko held up her hand to end the topic. "So if nobody else has an issue, I think that's everything."

"I do." Jonah spoke up suddenly, having stayed silent the whole time while he sat on the floor with Rock and Strength.

"Jonah..." Rock gently put her hand onto his forearm, a slight warning to behave. But he nodded slightly before standing up to speak.

"I want to know about the deal we made three years ago." Jonah didn't even address who he was speaking to. Kaspar knew it was for him.

"I haven't gone back so much an an inch on our agreement, Jonah. They're still safe and well, in a suburb outside of Tokyo. They've started junior high school in September, and to my knowledge they're well cared for and completely healthy." Kaspar didn't take his gaze away from Jonah's softening glare for a second. He was being honest, updating the young soldier on his friends from the army base he'd destroyed by himself to avenge the fourth member of their group, Malka. "If you want to visit them after the operation's over, or even beforehand, I can make the arrangements within half an hour. Just say the word." Kaspar even held up his cell phone to show he wasn't just blowing smoke out of his ass. He really meant it.

"Koko... I..." Jonah immediately turned to his adoptive mother, the unspoken question in his gaze was crystal clear to her, so she nodded.

"We'll go visit them first thing after we land. I promise." Koko didn't dare back down from her promise. Jonah was her son, and this was something very important to him, what drove him for at least the first two years since he'd joined her team. His friends were given new lives while he had simply joined a different squad in the same life they'd left behind. He wanted to see it all for himself, and Koko felt no reason to keep him from that.

"I'm dialing now." Kaspar got the answer he needed, already calling one of his assets in Japan that handled things for the three kids in his stead.

* * *

"Oh my god..." Eline covered her mouth with both hands, stunned by the sight standing before her when she answered the door. " _JONAH_!"

In an instant she was crying into his shoulder, drawing out Maurice and Jano from inside the respectable suburban house when they heard her exclaim his name.

Jonah had no words, and neither did the two boys as they slowly approached to see if he was actually there.

"You survived..." Maurice's English had a noticeable Japanese hint, no doubt they all had to know the language to live here. "After than arms dealer man Kaspar took us in, we never knew where you'd gone after the army base..."

"I was adopted by his sister. She's an arms dealer too." Jonah finally found his voice. "And I... I'm still a soldier, I work as her bodyguard."

"But you... seem so normal." Eline sniffed loudly as she finally let go of him and stepped back. "You don't have that scary look in your eyes anymore."

Jonah knew the predatory killer glint she was referring to. It was the one that never left his face until that fateful day. "No, I'm not... scary anymore."

"So are you here with your mom for your job?" Jano asked, leaning slightly to see that Koko was waiting by their car.

"Not today." Jonah shook his head with a brief glance to the side. "Today we're just visiting."

"We?" Eline noticed his eyes moving to the side, and peered around the slight corner to find Rock looking back and forth between Jonah and them before a smile slowly formed on her face as she slowly held up her hand in greeting.

"Guys... I want you to meet my girlfriend, Blake." Jonah held out his hand for her to join him, and she did. Secretly, she already had his memories of their names and faces. "She also works as a bodyguard for my mom, she's a former child soldier, just like me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Blake-san." All three of them suddenly bowed at her, much to her surprised confusion, glancing at Jonah for a moment.

"Um... Blake... can't talk." Jonah was still taking careful steps with the introductions, instead of just dumping everything on them at once. "She has to use this thing here on her neck to speak." Jonah noticed that Rock actually turned her adapter off at some point since they'd gotten off the plane. "Here, you forgot to turn it back on." He smiled as he clicked the power switch for her.

Once the adapter was ready, Rock smiled again before speaking, which surprised them by how the adapter was the one making the words instead of her mouth. "I'm sorry if zis seems strange at first, I 'ave a ssroat injury. Zis zing on my neck uses ze vibrations from my vocal cords to assist me in speaking."

"That's so cool!" Maurice was impressed by the piece of technology. "Where did you two first meet each other?"

"Brussels, in Belgium." Jonah replied. "My mom had already hired her by then, we were just going there to meet her and come back home with us until our next job." Jonah and Rock shared a knowing smile for a moment. "We started dating at the end of August."

"So where do you guys live?" Eline inwardly thought that Rock was super pretty for someone that was so pale. And she had gorgeous blue eyes and elegant midnight-black hair too.

"Ve live in England, a place called Sussex County." Rock replied. "Viz Koko, she's ze lady behind us, near ze car."

"Wow... so she's just like Kaspar, isn't she?" Jano asked, amazed at the pretty lady in the white business suit watching them with a smile on her face.

"No, she isn't." Rock shook her head slightly, one hand flat against Jonah's chest while her other was around his lower back, her face directed at Jonah's to stare at him for a moment before returning to the three kids. "Koko is vay better zan Kaspar vill ever be."


	38. Chapter 38

"So... now that we're certain Kaspar Heckmatyar took a good, hard look at his dealings in our territory, what do you think his next move will be, Hinoki-san?"

"More than likely, he's gonna back off." Colonel Hinoki replied, tapping the pad of his index finger against the side of a pen while he spoke into the conference call with his SR Squad members while Chariot was seated nearby, browsing the internet on her phone, only vaguely listening. "I doubt he's going to back down, however. His lack of appearances since last week has me considering that he's gone elsewhere to avoid our detection."

"You think he's planning something?"

"I'm almost positive of it. What exactly that 'something' is, however, I do not know."

"Hmmm..." Chariot turned her gaze towards the phone on the table, humming in thought for a moment before turning her gaze back to her own. "He's already setting things up, by this point. If we can act fast, we could catch him off guard."

"Chariot-chan... How do you know this?" One of the team asked curiously.

Even Hinoki was curious, since thus far, Chariot hadn't really offered any input on the matter. He raised an eyebrow as the Otherworlder turned her head towards the phone.

"I just know this sort of tactic. Backing off without any sort of resistance leads me to believe he hasn't been hiding all week. He's more than likely spoken to someone about the events in Jakarta and is now working to counter your efforts." Chariot hopped to her feet and slid her phone into her skirt's pocket. "I'll be back later, I'm already late as it is."

"Late for what, Chariot-chan?" Hinoki wasn't aware of the teenager's apparent appointment.

"Manga sale, it ends in an hour and a half. I gotta hurry before I miss it." Chariot was already moving to leave, but Hinoki spoke up in a calm voice.

"I'm sorry, Chariot-chan, if Heckmatyar's already on the move, we'll need you here at HQ so you're not caught out in public."

"You know I can handle myself, Hinoki-sensei." Chariot let out a small sigh. "And I'm not talking about my magic, or Mary."

"I know you're invested in your manga, Chariot-chan, we all have our passions... But we also have our lives to worry about. Kaspar Heckmatyar will take every opportunity he finds, and that includes capturing or hurting you." Hinoki stood his ground, not willing to let the newly turned 19 year old young woman leave the currently safety of the team's headquarters.

"Hinoki-sensei... I'm _not_ missing this sale. And if you continue to hold this against me, I see no further cause to align myself with your unit. You said it yourself when I first met you, I don't actually exist. And you taught me to be a phantom, so not even existing becomes very useful when combined with your teaching, wouldn't you agree?"

"Somehow you remind me of a former member of this unit... Tojo." Hinoki chuckled slightly for a moment before giving her a stern stare. "If you insist on the matter, then I cannot promise you any safety once things start moving against Kaspar."

"Hinoki-sensei... things are moving all around you, not just that cocky arms dealer." Chariot's tone had a ringing note of finality as she spun on her heel and left, both physically and conceptually.

* * *

"Alright, I pulled some strings to get us tactical gear. They're not your usual loadouts, sadly, but they'll get the job done when we take on the SR Squad." Koko explained as the crew gathered around the pile of gun cases on the table, both longarms and sidearms. "Same stuff for everyone, Magpul Masada's and Sig Sauer SP2022's. Sorry girls, it was all in a rush, so no SMG's or shotguns for you three."

Rock didn't really care about the lack of variety, shrugging with a 'whatever' expression. Beside her, Jonah was already opening the first rifle case to extract the unloaded assault rifle, frowning slightly upon noticing the weapon was topped with an EOTech optic.

"Something wrong with that one?" Koko saw Jonah's expression before leaning over the table to see the rifle, which appeared to be just fine.

"I don't like using optics on my gun." Jonah shook his head slightly. "Never have, remember?"

"If I do not 'ave a shotgun, zen you vill 'ave to deal viz ze optic on your rifle." Rock chuckled teasingly as she opened the first pistol case and withdrew the sidearm, weighing it experimentally in her hand before noticing that the side of the slide declared that it was chambered in 9x19mm. "On top of zat, ze pistols are nine millimeter, so you 'ave less to complain about."

"You, Ugo, and Lehm are the only ones that don't use a nine mil, Rock." Koko teased. "And on top of that, all of the rifles and pistols are gonna have these sucker's on them." She held up a suppressor from inside the open pistol case. "So now everyone except for Lehm can complain about the suppressor's while you two moan and groan."

"So what _can_ I complain about, boss?" Lehm joked with a cheeky smirk, his unlit cigarette moving up and down at the side of his mouth when he spoke.

"The no smoking laws."

* * *

Chariot heaved a relieved sigh as she walked out of the manga store, one arm already laden with over a dozen volumes she had been waiting until this sale to purchase.

Now that she was free from the SR Squad, Chariot felt a long unnoticed weight lift from her shoulders. It wasn't like they disliked her or anything petty like that, she just needed to move on with her life here in Japan.

When she'd first arrived in Japan, Hinoki had been the first person she'd met, and after she'd attempted to speak to him in her two languages at the time - Old and New Speak - they managed to form a line of communication at New Speak - or English, as it was known here - and he promptly took her in. From that, Chariot was set up with a modest little apartment that she paid for from her wages with the Squad working officially as Hinoki's administrative assistant, and that apartment was legally hers, using her fake identity cooked up by Hinoki during the afternoon of her first day in Japan. Her fake name was Claire Hart, and she was rather fond of it since that day in early June.

Of course, since then, she learned Japanese to communicate with her colleagues and go about her personal life, having developed a passion for manga and anime. She still used English at times - for both work and personally - making sure to at least practice the language enough so she didn't have too much of an issue from not speaking it as her primary language.

Suddenly her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she retrieved it, knowing instinctively that it was from Hinoki. It was a text from his personal phone. "Legally I am required to provide you with your next official paycheck after a resignation. If you're willing, could you stop by HQ to pick it up?"

Chariot didn't sense any sort of trick from her now ex-employer, so she quickly tapped her reply of agreement before spotting a taxi approaching, hailing it in quick order, and she took it right back to HQ, paid her fare and went inside to find Hinoki himself waiting in the lobby, holding her paycheck in a sealed envelope.

"I wish you the best on your endeavors, Miss Claire Hart." Hinoki knew it was a done deal when she'd left during the conference call earlier, so he handed over the envelope and bowed his head in respect while she tucked it inside one of her bags. "It pains me to know our parting wasn't on the best of terms. If you ever need me as a reference for your next job, just give me a call. I'll always be more than happy to give you some help, all you need to do is ask."

"You're a great man, Hinoki-sensei, thank you. I just... need to move on. I'm sure you can understand that." Chariot gave him a sweet little smile as she also bowed her head before leaving the building as two SUV's slowly pulled to a halt at the curb just slightly behind her as she walked away from the entrance.

Right away Chariot could sense that it wasn't just normal people inside the vehicles, there was a nearly tangible aura of menace that she recognized almost instantly... Only one girl could send such a strong tremor down her spine...

" _I know you can understand me._ "

Chariot's heart was hammering in her chest as she heard a male voice speaking in perfect Old Speak behind her as the vehicles' doors were closed in rapid thuds, meaning that there were several people with this man behind her.

" _Turn around slowly and place your bags on the sidewalk_."

Very slowly doing as she was told, Chariot already knew that the next command would be to hold her hands up against the top of her head, so she slowly did so as she turned around to face him.

The first thing she saw was that the man was directing an unfamiliar tan coloured assault rifle at her chest, and that the rifle was brandishing a stout suppressor on the end of the barrel. So these must be Kaspar Heckmatyar's opening moves, sending soldiers after the SR Squad out of vengeance.

" _I know who you are, and where you're from. You are to come with me to the vehicle, there is someone that wants to speak to you. And before you even try any games with us, I will warn you that I also know about your magic, and about Mary. Make this quick and painless for everyone, alright Chariot_?" Lutz didn't waver an inch until she slowly nodded her head and asked a question.

" _My bags have no weapons, and I am in no position to make a scene. All I ask is that I bring them with me to your vehicle_." Chariot requested after glancing towards the plastic bags at her feet. " _They have my books and money._ "

" _Alright. Slow moves, pick them up and move to the second vehicle_." Lutz only slightly lowered the rifle as she complied, then moved to follow behind her as she approached the second SUV, where another man was waiting with a similar rifle in hand.

This very large man said nothing as he opened the rear door for her to climb inside. They weren't far enough that he hadn't heard her request for the bags, so she climbed in while cradling them against her chest, and the man closed the door behind her.

"I'll get straight to the point." A female voice suddenly spoke up in Japanese from behind her middle row seat. "Your heritage and capabilities are known to me and my group because three other individuals from your home world are with me. Because of this, I am going to save you the time and hassle of intimidation or threats by asking you one question, Chariot."

"I can sense you're here, Princess, why are you bothering to hide?" Chariot knew that the youngest member of the Royal family was in the darkened vehicle with her and the woman in the backseat. So she spoke in Old Speak, acutely aware that the language was clearly known to the whole group.

"I'm not 'iding, Chariot. You are being spoken to by somevun else right now." The surprising voice that replied was quite different than she'd expected, with a much thicker accent than their last encounter back in Otherworld.

"I see... So what is your question, miss?" Chariot didn't see the point in furthering any argument with the young Princess.

"How would you like to join my crew? I happen to know what that envelope that Colonel Hinoki gave to you is holding. It's because you quit your job with him, isn't it?"

"And what exactly does your team do?" Chariot wasn't playing any of her usual games, she genuinely wanted to know what she would be getting herself into.

"I'm an arms dealer. You would be part of my bodyguard team, but due to being an Otherworlder, you would also have a cover story like the other girls, and that story is that you're my adopted daughter. I already know you have a fake identity, so that at least saves me the trouble of making a new one."

"So you work for Kaspar Heckmatyar... Don't you?" Chariot glanced to the side without turning her head away from the seat ahead of herself.

"No, actually I don't." The woman replied. "I'm Kaspar's twin sister, Koko. He's given me the task of dealing with the SR Squad here in Japan while he handles another operation in Jakarta. My decision to take you _in_ , rather than to take you _down_ , was simply because you're not involved in these things anyway. It's just business, plain and simple."

"What makes you say that?" Chariot asked warily.

"You quit working for Hinoki, so you have no reason to bother being his assistant anymore, let alone care about him. However, I can tell he was the one you first met when you arrived here. We humans call that a benefactor. I've already concluded that much beforehand, and have given my crew orders to let Hinoki live. I am not a cruel woman, I understand what it's like to have someone relying on me for guidance and support. Or should I say four of them."

"Since you know that I used to work for him, that must mean you've also got the address for my apartment."

"I do, yes. If you want to join my crew, I give you my word that your belongings will be acquired and safely transported to my official residence in England, where you will officially live, acting under the cover story I mentioned earlier." Koko replied. "So, now that I've made things clearer for you, what is your decision? Will you join my crew and act as my adopted daughter?"

"It's Claire." Chariot gave a firm nod, making sure the woman could see her head moving. "My fake name is Claire Hart."


	39. Chapter 39

"Welcome to your new home, Chariot." Koko slid the key into the front door and unlocked the house for the crew to finally relax after several long flights, having had several layovers, first in the US at Los Angeles and Houston, then to Canada briefly for a stop in Toronto, then back to the US to stop in New York, and then a nonstop flight directly to London, where they then came straight home to Sussex.

"It was quite kind of Strength for her to decide to share her room with you, I already know thanked her." Koko continued. "So while everyone's getting themselves sorted, her and I will show you around the house and the property."

"Things here are... very different than Japan." Chariot was so accustomed to her small apartment that the much larger house had her looking around in awe. "Um... should I take off my shoes?"

"Yeah, we have a shelf right in here for our shoes." Koko slid the foyer coat closet open and kicked off her own shoes to put them on the shoe rack inside. "Since there's fourteen of us, we only keep the one pair in here. If you've got any other pairs, they'll have to go in yours and Strength's room. C'mon, let's get you started on that tour."

And with that, Koko and Strength gave Chariot a full tour of the house, giving her a brief summary about how things were handled around the house on a daily basis whenever they weren't away for a job. Of course, they also mentioned the traditional rule of the 6am wake up call no matter what part of the planet they were on.

"So I get up at six, no matter what? That's not exactly a big deal." Chariot wasn't quite aware of what they were stating such a rule for.

"When you're jet lagged, it is a big deal." Koko smiled slightly. "Although, I do recall that you're at least somewhat of a mage, so sleeping for you has a bit of a twist, doesn't it?"

"Well, sort of..." Chariot took a moment to consider how to explain it in English, which was what they'd been speaking since the first layover in Los Angeles. "I mean, yeah, I still regain my magic by sleeping, and I still have a warrior's gusto for food... but it's not... full... no, complete? Um..."

"So you need both, but not as much as a true warrior nor a true mage." Koko could see where Chariot was trying to go with her attempted words. "What was your usual sleep schedule like back in Japan?"

"I would go to sleep between 11pm and midnight, then I'd wake up for work at seven thirty." Chariot explained. "Weekends were my days off, so I would go to bed a bit later, but still woke up at the same time."

"Hmm..." Koko took notice of how Chariot had herself maturely scheduled. "So, you're saying you can wake up on time, just that you need an alarm of some kind?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Chariot nodded, but arched an eyebrow. "I get the feeling you're planning to prank me in the morning."

"No, actually. I'm just learning something about my new oldest daughter." Koko winked with a smile at her, since she was aware that Chariot was nearly a full year older than Dead Master, who was turning eighteen in about two weeks. "I am your mother, you know."

* * *

With smooth efficiency, Chariot made quick work of the line of targets set up for her to shoot at with a Beretta M92fs. After the last target dinged backwards, she smoothly turned her wrist to check the opened slide before lowering the emptied sidearm and turning around to face everyone else.

"I was trained by Hinoki-sensei over the summer." Chariot knew she wasn't an expert, but she was at the very least proficient enough to use the 9mm pistol without any real issues. "I take it you were expecting me to be a novice?"

"Not really." Lehm shook his head. "But that doesn't mean you're excused from practices with the rest of us."

"If I may... are all the guns you use strictly for work, or are there some personal usage ones too?" Chariot reset the open slide and set the safety back on as she approached the table to continue speaking to them.

"Rock and Dead Master have additional pistols they used to use. But no, just business." Koko shook her head slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"You have an entire range, and even I know that using the same thing all the time will eventually get boring. Why not have a gun or two for just shooting for fun? I mean, there's gotta be a gun you all want to try out, right?"

"Hmmmm..." Koko's eyes narrowed shrewdly, a look that even Chariot recognized as an 'I have an idea' expression. "I think you're onto something here."

"So... you first kid." Lehm chuckled, he could tell that they were all in line to share a gun or two they'd want to offer for the 'fun gun' list.

"I'd actually like to try a shotgun, like the one the Princess uses." Chariot pointed at the weapon that Rock was idly holding against her torso with the barrel pointed down at the ground.

"If you vant it, just ask." Rock lifted the weapon by her left hand, holding the pump grip as she wrenched it down and then back up, chambering a shell as she held out the boomstick.

"No, no... that's your 'business' gun. I mean one just for fun." Chariot held up her free hand to politely refuse.

"So?" Rock still held her shotgun out for Chariot to try. "Ve're not vorking right now, are ve?"

"How about you, Princess? Which gun would you want to try for fun?" Koko glanced over as Chariot shook her head again to refuse the shotgun, which Rock lowered with a shrug.

"After being shot at viz zem in ze Balkans, I vanted to try zat gun ze militia vere using. I've seen zem before as vell, I just don't know ze name of it."

"Kalashnikov's, otherwise known as AK's." Lehm chuckled. "They're Russian guns."

"So what, are we just gonna set some of these aside or something and just shoot them here at the range?" Dead Master was still not quite sure what the point of this was.

"I have an idea for that part, trust me." Koko waved her hand dismissively. "So once we've all decided on what guns to add to the 'fun gun' list, I can make the arrangements to have them shipped here. If anyone wants to make an actual list, go right ahead."

"I want to try this gun." Strength suddenly spoke up, holding her cell phone out for Koko to look at her choice.

Koko's smile was accompanied by an amused chuckle as she nodded with approval. "I'll get that one first. I want to try it too."

* * *

"So we meet again, Miss Heckmatyar." Captain Darkwood was pleasantly amused by Koko's contract with Umbrella to ship a delivery of assorted guns directly to England, hidden in a shipment of medical products. Of course, he was here with his assignment to oversee the delivery in person, coming right from Wesker himself, so he had no real objections to seeing her again. "I take it you're doing well?"

"Absolutely, Captain. I hope your voyage wasn't troublesome." Koko shook his hand, acutely aware of how damn cold his skin was to her touch in the early November air. "Is everything accounted for?"

"Your placed an order for a total of fifteen guns, specific models of course." The young Captain nodded, his strikingly icy blue eye glinting in the light of the distant sunrise. "And a stockpile of the respective magazines with a few hundred rounds of ammunition for them all, except the... shotgun shells." He consulted the invoice he'd been provided with before his departure from the harbour in New York City aboard the Umbrella-owned cargo ship that loomed behind them. "I take it you've already got enough on hand for that to be excluded from the order?"

"Precisely. But I think you and I both can agree that there's never such a thing as 'too much ammo', right?" Koko laughed slightly. "Now, seeing as your ship isn't due to depart until this evening, would you agree that you have some free time for the rest of the day?"

"This sounds like you're inviting me to join you for the day. Am I far off, Miss Heckmatyar?" Captain Darkwood raised his exposed eyebrow, clearly amused.

"I hope there's no problem with that. I assure you, I'm not going to eat you or anything, haha!" Koko laughed again, and he chuckled at her joke.

"In that case, I'd be glad to join you for the day. I just need to speak to the ship's captain for a moment and collect my bag."

"I'll be waiting right here." Koko nodded with a smile as the very tall young man turned back to the ship and headed up the personnel staircase.

* * *

"I didn't know you ordered a new recruit with our guns, boss." Lehm was having a smoke on the front porch when Koko arrived with Captain Darkwood, or Tobias as he let her use his first name - but insisted he wasn't fond of being called Toby - who was retrieving the various gun cases from the trunk of the crew's armoured sedan.

"He's my contact from Umbrella. Captain Tobias Darkwood, from the XOS-3 Exosuit deal, remember?" Koko replied. "I had Umbrella sneak the guns past Customs, so his boss ordered him to oversee the delivery. His ship doesn't leave until tonight, and I invited him to join us for our day of fun shooting. He even brought his own guns with him."

"Uh huh..." Lehm took a drag of his smoke and blew out out of his nose. "So he's here as a friend?"

"I already told him most of the house rules. You don't have to worry, Lehm." Koko patted his shoulder before opening the front door and calling for Strength - using her fake name, Sarah - and Ugo to come help Tobias carry the guns down to the range.

The two heavy lifters of the household quickly moved to assist the sparkling-silver-haired soldier, both taking note of the fact he was quite strong himself, having five of the gun cases in his arms when they arrived, showing absolutely no hint of strain.

"I heard, don't worry about me. If you could just grab the rest, we can head to your range to drop them off and come back for the ammunition." Tobias nodded to the large man and tiny girl.

* * *

"So... you must be the Captain from Umbrella that Koko mentioned. My name's Renato, you can just call me R." R shook Tobias' hand, not expecting his skin to tingle from his cold flesh. But he didn't linger on it as the one-eyed teenager nodded.

"Tobias Darkwood." Tobias had been given a simple description of each member of the team of bodyguards, as well as Koko's five children. He'd already met Valmet and Jonah during their first meeting for the Exosuits just over a month earlier. "I prefer to be called Tobias rather than Toby, if that's not a problem."

"Nah, it's cool. So how was the voyage from the States?"

"A couple storms along the way, nothing particularly bothersome. Managed to even see some dolphins swimming alongside the bow of the ship." Tobias replied, noticing over R's shoulder that Koko's daughters were just arriving at the range, carrying various bags and boxes for their mother, who was right behind them with her perpetual smile firmly in place.

"Alright, now that we're all here, I'd like to introduce Tobias, he's my contact from Umbrella. I invited him to join us since his ship isn't returning to the US until late tonight. He's even brought along some of his own guns to use."

"How'd that happen?" Chariot asked him while pointing at the left side of her face, clearly asking about the burns that went from his jawline all the way up into his already asymmetrical hairstyle, inching along the buzz-cut side of his head to end just slightly past his earrings. It took them all a moment to realize that his nose also had a piercing on the unburned side.

"Claire, that's not exactly..." Koko began, but stopped herself when Tobias chuckled in amusement.

"It's alright, not like I'm trying to conceal the fact that half my face got fried." Tobias nodded to acknowledge the oldest of the girls. "I got my burned while saving my adopted brother from a fire. He got out just fine, I lost an eye. He'd be dead if I hadn't, so it's not really a big deal."

"Oh, damn..." Chariot could tell that the burns weren't recent, so he'd clearly had them for a fairly long time.

"Wow, I must say you're the first person that didn't follow it up with a particular question." Tobias chuckled. "Usually people ask to see what my eye looks like under my eyepatch."

"Ve asked zat question before." Rock spoke up, indicating Valmet with her thumb.

"How'd you lose yours, Valmet?" Tobias reached up to untie the eyepatch's double straps from the back of his head, revealing that his left eye was completely white, like an opaque marble was sitting inside the socket.

"Knife slash." Valmet smiled slightly, noticing that Tobias' eyebrow was still there, despite the burns.

"Well, now that we've gotten everything down to the range, why don't we start with the gun that Sarah really wants to try." Koko noticed that Strength was showing a rare moment of impatience beside the gun cases and ammo boxes. "I mean, I do too, but she's the one fidgeting."

"Of course." Tobias tucked his eyepatch into his pocket before pulling out the folded invoice to check which gun she wanted. "So, which gun was yours, Sarah?" He asked, smiling at her half-covered face behind the scarf she wore around her neck.

"The Smith & Wesson... the M500."

"Ah... _I see_." Tobias' smile widened knowingly. "It's the case on top of the left stack."

Strength quickly popped it open to reveal the 10 inch long barreled magnum, pulling it out with both hands to stare at it in awe.

"It's... so big."

"Not really." Tobias was visibly trying to maintain a straight face, clearly amused by something. "Jonah, you mind opening my bag? It should be right on top."

Jonah nodded, and unzipped the duffel bag, revealing two even more menacing revolvers with even longer barrels.

"Which one? There's two."

"Both." Tobias chuckled, turning his head to watch as Jonah withdrew both of his own M500's from the bag, holding them both about halfway up the barrel as he handed them over. "Thank you, Jonah. Now... as you can clearly see, I've done some work on mine. This one's Fenrir..." Tobias held up the steel framed one, the shorter of the two. "And this... is The Beast." He then held up the larger, black one that was inlaid with Cyrillic lettering and a wolf's head near the end of the barrel. "Anyone willing to try one of the revolvers while they're out?"

"I want the _big_ one." Strength couldn't take her eyes off the customized hand cannon for even a second now that it was being offered for use.

"I'll try... the small one first." Koko wasn't quite as enthusiastic about Tobias' monster magnums, so she accepted the 10 inch one from Strength while she herself accepted The Beast from Tobias.

"This oughta be good..." Lehm chuckled dryly to Ugo, who was known to handle his Desert Eagle with little hindrance.

"Oh trust me... it will be." Tobias nodded at the two men as the revolvers were quickly loaded by all three of them, ready to take aim at the assorted fruits, bottles of soft drinks, cinderblocks and wooden targets down range. "Whenever you're ready, go right ahead." He checked to make sure everyone was standing back before giving the go-ahead, keeping Fenrir by his side while the two of them did a quick rock-paper-scissors to see who went first, and Koko won so she brought the weapon up and aimed down the sights...

 _BOOM!_

Wisely, she had already braced herself with a stable stance before firing, but even then, the shockwave of the recoil went straight up both of her arms and into her whole torso, rocking her upper body back, but she kept her footing quite well as the pineapple she aimed at exploded into a pulpy mess, earning a very pleased exclaimation from her that was followed by a laugh, everyone's ears ringing from the sheer volume of the .500 Magnum cartridge.

"Son of a bitch that _hurt_!" She shook her stinging hand to restore the sensation in her palms, depite how little it did to help. "But that was so _awesome_!"

"Your turn, Sarah." Tobias, the only one of them that didn't seem to have his ears ringing from the blast, smiled at the tiny girl with the oversized black magnum in her hand.

With one hand on the barrel, like a stockless shotgun, Strength took a moment to stand in a stable stance as she pressed the hammer back with her thumb... then fired.

 _BOOM!_

With even more ringing in their ears than the smallest revolver, Strength took the recoil like a champ, rocking her body back just like Koko did, but she didn't seem to have stinging hands as she handed Tobias his gun back, a pleased smile just barely visible behind her scarf.

"How long are they?"

"Fenrir's eighteen inches, The Beast is twenty four." Tobias held both down at his sides for a moment before nodding to indicate he was gonna fire them. "You did great, Sarah. First person I know that could handle the kick."

Raising both magnums, the speed that he raised them caused them both to spin in two full rotations around his index fingers, the ends of the barrels sailing dangerously close to his unflinching face as he deftly grasped the sturdy rubber grips and fired them both at the same time, decimating two watermelons in a shower of watery red chunks.

"Sweet Jesus! How are your hands not in pain?!" Koko gawked, while everyone else was speechless at how effortlessly Tobias handled the recoil from both guns simultaneously. His elbows barely even curled, nor did his torso move at all.

"Lots of practice." Tobias smiled. "Now then... who's next? Or should we move onto another gun?"

"I vant to try my AK." Rock held up one hand, having already found the right case and opened it while they'd been shooting. She was already done loading a magazine with 30 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo, shoving it into the gun just like how she remembered briefly witnessing Jonah do from his memory of destroying the army base.

"The range is yours." Tobias, Koko and Strength stepped back to let her have a go with the gun she'd requested.

"While she does that, I'm gonna go grab a coffee, does anyone want one as well?" Koko had seen enough AK's in her time, so she turned to head back to the house briefly.

"I'll help." Valmet quickly joined her after the adults - and Chariot, who was technically an adult - all gave affirmations to the offer, only to realize that Tobias was also joining them.

"I'll join you too, you're gonna need some more hands."

So, each of them walked away from the all too familiar heavy throbbing of the iconic Russian assault rifle to begin the task of preparing the beverages back at the house. During which Koko spoke up about something she'd noticed about Tobias.

"So I see you're getting along with my kids."

"Well, I'm technically their age, Koko. It comes naturally." Tobias chuckled slightly, all three of them sitting at the kitchen table while the coffee brewed.

"It certainly does!" Koko smiled. "Now then, I was wondering if you happened to notice the way Dahlia's been looking at you since you arrived. I think you've managed to catch her eye."

Valmet's expression matched her 'Oooooh' of keen interest at the sudden gossipy tone to Koko's voice, while Tobias tapped his index finger on the table with smile.

"Well, I must disappoint her... I'm already taken." Tobias shook his head slightly. "I have a girlfriend already, so Dahlia has free reign to enjoy the view from afar. I won't stop her if that's the case. But if she asks, I'm not going to lull her into having any false hopes."

"I mean, you're pretty good looking as is, so I totally understand. I figured that the girl would eventually get over her last breakup, I just had no idea she'd be eyeballing you the moment you show up." Koko had all the dressings of a gossiping teenager. "What's her name?"

"Rize Kamishiro, I met her in June, we've been together since the first week of August." Tobias' face had a small smile that hinted at his strong relationship with the apparently Japanese girl.

"You don't mind these personal questions, right? I'm not crossing any boundaries, am I?" Koko asked, making sure he wouldn't be offended by them talking so casually.

"Not at all." Tobias didn't have a problem with it at all. But before he could say anything else, he phone started to ring from inside his suit jacket, so he politely excused himself for a moment to take the call on the back deck nearby.

"I like him, too bad you can't adopt him too." Valmet teased, catching a small word from Tobias through the glass that seemed rather familiar, 'Sere'.

"I'm rather curious about that tattoo of his. I think it goes all the way up his right arm." Koko indicated the side of her own neck, referring to the smoke trail design that almost reached his earlobe. "I can see the knight on his hand, of course. Whoever did it is a damn good artist."

"I think I may know of an artist in the States, somewhere on the East Coast, that has a similar art style to that knight. I swear it's a female artist, I just can't remember her name..."

"Sorry about that, my mother's girlfriend didn't know I'm away on business." Tobias reported as he slid the door open and returned inside.

"Oh?" Valmet's eyes glinted for a moment at the mention of his mother having a girlfriend. "I uh, didn't..."

"Oh, right... I only mentioned that my mother's my boss at Umbrella..." Tobias smiled as he sat back down at the table. "My biological mother's dead, so is my father. I was adopted by her earlier this year, her name's Alice."

"Oh, sorry to hear about that..." Koko began, but Tobias shook his head slightly, unconcerned.

"Not a big deal, honestly. A shotgun blast to the gut and the head for them, and I got away with a lucky miss and the thieves got away with their money." Tobias patted the left side of his chest with his right hand, of course revealing the knight on horseback that adorned the back of his hand for a moment. "Haven't been fond of the things since then... But I'm working on getting over it, slowly but surely."

"Your parents died protecting you." Koko didn't know what else to say.

"You're right about that." Tobias slowly nodded in agreement. "You've got five kids, and it doesn't take two eyes to tell that only your youngest two are directly yours, Jonah and Blake. I mean, Alice adopted myself and my siblings without even batting an eye. It takes a lot of determination and guts to pick up where another parent left off, for whatever reason it may be, including death."

"You're right. I'd do anything for them, even at the cost of my own life. If someone ever dared to hurt them, there isn't even an alternate dimension they could hide in to stop me from find them and tearing them apart." Koko wasn't joking at all.

"If someone did that to Alice, or my little sister Mishka... Hell, even my older brother Kaneki or especially Rize... there isn't a human on this planet that would be able to stop me from cornering the bastard, tearing apart their life's achievements, destroying every piece of their very foundation that they stand on... Hell, I'd raise an army as a show of strength, but the moment I find that person... my army would stand back and watch as I slaughtered that person as slowly and meticulously painfully as possible. Then, after that's all done and over with, I'll drop a nuke on their carcass as a message to anyone else thinking they could do the same thing. And I would make sure to go straight to the media afterwards to tell them what I did, how I did it, who I did it all to... and _why_."

"I'm not sure if that's completely overkill... or the most _satisfying_ act of vengeance I've _ever_ heard." Koko was amazed at the lengths to which Tobias would get his revenge. "And I somehow sense that you'd do the same thing for your own children, down the line."

"See, here's the thing." Tobias leaned his forearms on the edge of the table, interlocking his fingers with a small smirk. "They would have to get through _me_ first... then they'd have to get past Rize, who by the way, can keep me in line with just a glare... then, if they're still in one piece after finishing her off... then they'd have to deal with my child themself, because I'm not foolish enough to leave my child unable to defend themself. If, by that point, they're somehow still alive after dealing with my kid, I would be waiting for them at the front gates of Hell itself with a _very_ warm smile on my face for when they do finally die... and my wife and kid would be standing right beside me when it happens."

"Reminds me of Princess for some reason..." Valmet smiled, since that last part was almost certainly something that Rock would've said. That girl had a mean streak, for sure.

"See, I hope that when the time comes for me to marry Rize, that we have a daughter as our first child. That way, she will be _my_ Princess, and Rize shall be my _Queen_." Tobias smiled knowingly as he glanced at _**you**_ for a moment, well aware of the fact he was breaking the Fourth Wall while simultaneously enacting a time paradox with his joke.

"If you hadn't already said you're taken by Rize, I would've just grabbed your face and kissed you for that." Koko managed to contain her sudden urge to do just that. "That kind of loyalty makes me want to speak to your mother about adopting you all for myself!"

Tobias and Valmet both laughed heartily at that. "Oh believe me, you don't know the half of it... It's a rather... _long_ story." Once again, Tobias glanced over at **_you_ ** knowingly with a glint in his eye.

* * *

 **A/N: Tobias' chat in the kitchen with Koko and Valmet has done the following: Broken the Fourth Wall four times, enacted a timeline paradox for the canon of my other stories Silence and Yuki-Onna, as well as foreshadowed the entire finale of Silence, directly referenced Rock's backstory in this story, and finally... he hinted at an event in Syndicate that hasn't even happened yet. If you're unfamiliar with him, go read Silence, which is the story he was talking about in the last line, which is 203,348 words in length at a total of 93 chapters.**

 **And for those of you that have actually read Silence, this scene takes place during a lengthy timeskip from the end of September to early December, which is the transition between Chapters 52 and 53. This whole chapter takes place during the first week of November.**


	40. Chapter 40

"Hmmm..." Scarecrow hummed in thought as he stared at Koko's financial data. "The hell is she doing with all this extra cash in her accounts? There's hundreds of millions of dollars just tucked into the cracks and shadows of all these damn dummy accounts. And she's smart about it too, keeping it all as stocks and government bonds... fuckin' tax haven bypasses, Swiss accounts... Damn, she's good at covering her tracks."

"So what you're telling me is that she's preparing for some massive project?" Bookman was already able to read between the lines of what the financial data was telling them. "What in the world could it be?"

"Ah, knowing her usual patterns, it's gonna be her crown jewel of a clusterfuck." Scarecrow heaved a sigh, sitting back in his chair to stare up at the ceiling. "I mean, back in South Africa, she got ahold of the prototype for the Super Hind MK5 to get her and us outta Port Elizabeth like she was just calling a cab. It's like she's already got herself lined up for a checkmate by the time we sit our ass down at the table to start playing her chess game."

"You're not wrong... She's always been like that." Hex was also present, her scarred face twisted into a permanent scowl ever since that one-sided firefight in Prague. She refused to use an eyepatch, since she thought hiding the wound was just what Koko would want her to do out of shame. "I still have my head attached only because I got a very rare moment of mercy from that bitch. Had it been even a hint of the possibility she wouldn't get her checkmate, I'd be dead and she'd be even more of a monster than she already is now."

"Hmmm... good point." Scarecrow, despite not being involved with that part of Undershaft, was able to at least understand what Hex was talking about. "And we know where she lives, so it's not like we're totally in the dark on her anymore like we were before you did that recon op, right?"

"True. And considering her actions since then, I think it's safe to say that she's recovering from the events just as much as we are." Bookman agreed. "If anything, she didn't get her checkmate that she wanted in Prague, it came out to be a stalemate."

"So when's the rematch?"

All three of them turned to see Empress standing in the office doorway in similar human attire to Hex's usual work outfit, while Black Rock Beast was visible just behind her in the hallway in her usual outfit and armour.

"You said you wouldn't interfere anymore." Hex pointed out.

"I said I wouldn't interfere with my daughter living here on Earth with that woman and the young man that she's Lifelinked to. I never said anything about preventing Undershaft from continuing against her." Empress and Beast entered the office and closed the door before taking the last remaining seat herself while Beast stood at her shoulder in a slightly military-like stance with her gauntleted hands curled into fists at her sides. "Now then, Bookman... and I believe you go by the name 'Scarecrow'... I believe you're aware that Black Gold Saw has confirmed to me that she bears her own Lifelink to the woman's brother, Kaspar, who operates mainly in South Asia. I think saying she's in prime position to act as your spy is a bit of an understatement."

"I dunno jack shit about that stuff, I've just been keeping track of her money." Scarecrow held up his hands, already feeling confused and out of the loop on some of what this new woman just said. She hadn't even introduced herself to him. He was also trying his best to ignore the fact that the kid behind her had blue flames erupting out of her left eye.

"So you don't deny that Heckmatyar's stockpiling wealth in preparation for something large scale?" Empress pointedly asked.

"All I can tell you is that she's got several hundred million dollars set aside, and it's all cleverly concealed in with decoy accounts from all over the world." Scarecrow gestured to his computer screen. "So whatever she's doing with it is a complete mystery right now. She isn't even accessing her civilian bank account right now. Her usual spending pattern's on a calm stretch right now. And she's already dished out her squad's monthly paychecks from her HCLI expenses account."

"Hmmm... I see." Empress glanced over at Hex, who nodded in agreement at her question through their Lifelink. "In that case, I think I'll arrange a visit with Miss Heckmatyar to chat over tea."

Even Beast stared at her for the ballsy declaration. Sure, it wasn't 'Hex level aggression' kind of shocking, but it certainly took them all a moment to put together that Empress wasn't going to just waltz into Koko's face and demand to know about her finances. She was going to test Koko, see if she could disrupt Koko's checkmate before it even happened.

"Are you sure the brat's gonna let that even happen? Mute or not, she's gonna be pissed to see you show up at their front door." Hex craned her head to the side to see Empress' expression directly, rather than sense it with their Link since Empress happened to be sitting in her blind spot.

"Unlike you, Hex, I won't just suddenly appear outside the building. I have the forethought to call ahead and request a visit since I don't need an assault rifle to efficiently get things done."

"No, but that mace of yours did a pretty good job at sending those two runts flying..." Hex's scowl hardened at the jab for her failure to apprehend Koko.

"Believe it or not, I was actually holding back." Empress smirked slightly as she stood to leave, followed by Beast without a word.

* * *

Koko wasn't entirely sure which emotion she should be feeling as she lowered the phone and disconnected the line. Anger, fear, panic... all were very appropriate for the person that just called her to have a chat over tea.

"You don't look very pleased by somezing, Koko." Rock happened to be wandering past the living room with Roxy trotting at her heels, armed with a squeaky toy.

"I'm not entirely sure what I should be feeling at the moment, actually..." Koko shook her head slightly. "And you won't like it either."

"Oh?" Rock was wary now, approaching her in the living room while Roxy hopped onto the couch to continue playing with her toy.

"Empress wants to have tea with me." Koko knew that hiding things from Rock was borderline impossible, so she wasn't bothering. She said the truth, with no games or censoring. "And she made it abundantly clear it's not about you. It's about Undershaft."

"Ven does she arrive?" Rock was instantly scowling at the idea of her mother coming to visit, for any reason.

"She left that part up to me, so I said later today. And knowing she teleported into Prague, I can tell we don't need to wait for her to fly here... as much as the thought of her flying on a plane twinges at my sadistic side..." Koko averted her eyes for a moment, showing a rare moment of fighting to keep a smile _off_ her face. She was well aware that it was a 'feet on ground, safe and sound' mentality in Otherworld, and heights were a mutual fear even in the Royal family.

"I'm cashing in vun of my revards." Rock suddenly declared. "If she's coming 'ere, I vant a drink."

"You and me both." Koko didn't even object to giving Rock booze. Those rewards were unrestricted, after all. "Anything in particular that you two want to have?"

Rock realized that she meant Jonah, who was upstairs on his phone at the moment. "Vell... I vant to try viskey... so two, please."

"Ice?" Koko wasted no time in bringing out some of her favourite Crown Royal Maple whiskey, setting out three glasses and adding ice to one, then pausing over the second.

"No zank you, I vant mine full flavoured." Rock shook her head, since she knew that adding ice sometimes weakened beverages and their flavour. "Jonah too." She added after consulting her partner via Lifelink.

"Alright then, more ice for me." Koko didn't object as she added one more chunk to hers before filling them all with the same respectable amount of whiskey and handing the two without ice to Rock before taking her own and holding it up slightly in a toast. "Enjoy."

"Zank you, ve vill." Rock nodded with a smile before returning to Jonah in their room, finding him curiously amused by the presence of the booze in her hands.

"Cashed in a reward, I see. So what's the big deal?" He took his offered drink and pressed it against hers as he spoke.

"My Muzz'r is coming to 'ave tea vizz Koko. I vant no part in zat." Rock accepted the clink of their glasses before taking their first sip of the strong, but smooth tasting alcohol. They both knew it wouldn't be soft on the palette, cringing very slightly as it went down their throats.

"I can see vy Lehm and Koko drink zis so much." Rock slowly lowered her glass, feeling it warming her insides slightly after the initial entry. "I like ze taste."

"This is pretty damn good." Jonah agreed, finding the warmth a nice feeling to go along with the maple flavour. "So now that you have your reward, what do you plan to do to stay away from your mother?"

"Vell... First I vant to finish my book." Rock indicated her nearby bookshelf, where one was noticeably out of place since she'd been reading it before coming downstairs. "I'm almost finished, it's getting so exciting!"

"Which one in the series is that?" Jonah moved aside with a glance at the book as she picked it up. He sat at their desk, putting his drink at his elbow while he untangled his earbuds to resume watching an American Youtuber's videos as inspiration for their fun gun list, as well as general ideas to go alongside the fun guns.

"It's number five in ze series." Rock put her whiskey down on the bedside table and got herself comfortable sitting on the bed, her knees up to support her open book. "Zere's eleven books right now, ze new vun isn't out yet."

"I can't help but notice you like the series, if you've read that far." Jonah put only one bud into his ear as he plugged the other end into his phone, keeping one ear free to finish their conversation.

"I do, yeah." Rock nodded, sipping some whiskey before setting the glass back down again. "I zink zat ze au'zour is really good at capturing ze feelings of ze readers vizz ze characters themselves."

"So who do you ship?" Jonah smirked, pausing his video to look up at Rock's expected confusion at the new term.

"Ship?"

"Well... Do you think there's two characters that make a great couple?" Jonah asked.

"Yes... But zey 'ate each uzzer." Rock's cheeks went slightly pink as she nodded.

"That's not the point. You want to be a couple, right?" Jonah asked, and of course she nodded again. "That's shipping. You like those two, and imagining them together isn't gonna happen, right?"

"Zey're sisters..." Rock tried to explain, but stopped herself with a slow exhale through her nose, then nodded.

"I don't need the details." Jonah help up one hand to stop her. "The point is you ship them together. Do you want them to be together?"

"Yes."

"Then that's it. Welcome to shipping." Jonah sat back in the deck chair, sipping his whiskey. "Chariot taught me all this, so if you want to know more, ask her. She's the weeaboo."

"Veeaboo?" Rock stared at him over the top of her glasses.

"She likes anime, remember? Apparently that's the word for someone that likes anime." Jonah, although not entirely correct, shrugged slightly before unpausing his video.

The conversation died down, both of them returning to what they were doing until they both heard a knock coming from the front door, both snapping back to attention to share a glance before focusing their enhanced hearing down the stairs as Koko answered the door.

"Empress, I've just put the kettle on for our tea. Come in."

"Thank you, Koko, if I may call you by your first name?" Empress' own voice, slightly French accented like Rock's real voice, reached their ears and narrowed their eyes slightly. It was her, no doubt.

"You may. I presume you still use Empress as your preferred name?" Koko asked, accompanied by the sound of Empress removing her footwear at the door.

"I've come to use a false identity, actually. I chose the name Stella Noire, but behind closed doors, I still use Empress, yes." Empress replied. "Shall we?"

"Right this way."

Their footsteps receded into the kitchen, and Jonah held up a hand to stop Rock as she stood up suddenly.

"Don't do it." Jonah shook his head in warning.

"Vat? I'm going to ze bazzroom." Rock pointed away from the stairs to the bathroom door up the hall.

"Oh, right. My bad." Jonah relaxed, still listening to Empress and Koko start their discussion.

"So, judging by your rather bold methods, I presume Bookman isn't aware of this meeting?" Koko asked.

"He knows the barest of details." Empress replied. "I find the man's methods... wearing at times."

"So how bare are these details, Empress?"

"He knows I am having tea with you. I chose not to reveal my reason for this visit to him. Hex, however, is aware of my reason. Unfortunately she has leaned how to properly peruse my mind via our Lifelink, so I have long since refrained from bothering to conceal my thoughts from her in close proximity."

"Am I privy to this reason of yours?" Koko's voice sounded like she was smirking in amusement.

"That's why I chose to reveal it pertains to Undershaft during our phone call." Empress replied. "The CIA are completely wrong about you, yet they're right on the money at the same time."

"How so?" Koko was clearly curious, but Jonah knew that tone in her voice also meant she was clued into a slip up from Empress. She was thinking, and fast.

"Well, this is likely known to you already, they've been monitoring your finances all over the world, and are under the conclusion that your cleverly hidden stockpile of wealth in these accounts of yours, is being used for some grand scheme of some kind." Empress explained. "Need I remind you that I am not officially aligned with the CIA, consider me a neutral observer concerning Undershaft."

"How much did they find?" Koko was very amused now, Jonah could hear the smile on her face reaching her eyes now.

"Six hundred million."

"Well, since you're neutral in all this, I'll tell you what that money's set aside for." Koko laughed slightly, but Jonah didn't hear her reveal the reason because not only did the kettle start to whistle, but Rock also finished in the bathroom and flushed the toilet, the two sounds drowning out Koko's voice entirely as Rock turned on the sink to wash her hands.

"Hmm, a wise plan for the funds. I take it, by your tone, that you have more money than just the six hundred million they've managed to find?" Empress audibly chuckled.

"I do." Koko replied, clearly pouring the boiled water into their awaiting teacups. "Who's the CIA agent in charge of checking my money?"

"I do recall that his handle is Scarecrow. Not the brightest man, I find him rather average looking, though his skills are enough to warrant overlooking his shortcomings."

"We've met, actually. I think of him the same way." Koko replied, earning a mutual laugh from the two women as Rock opened the bathroom door, drying her hands one last time before returning to her book and booze, distracting Jonah from his eavesdropping as she walked past.

"Hmmm..." Jonah considered what he'd heard since Empress arrived, idly taking note of the fact that Empress had been speaking in English the whole time, even after gifting them all with the ability to understand Old Speak. Somehow, that fact was a warning sign for Jonah, and he got a sudden idea. "Want me to bring you up something to snack on with your drink?"

"Now I 'ave to remind _you_ to be'ave..." Rock tilted her head slightly to stare at him.

"I'm not doing anything, I'm just hungry. Do you want something too?" Jonah wasn't even masking his thoughts from her. As much as his sudden idea concerned him, he was legitimately hungry.

"Sure, vatever you're gonna 'ave." Rock shrugged, returning to her book after drinking more whiskey.

Jonah wasted no time in heading down to the kitchen, finding Koko and Empress seated at the kitchen table, both having turned to see his approach.

"Something wrong Jonah?" Koko knew that Rock filled him in on Empress' arrival, so she was rightfully curious about his arrival.

"Just hungry." Jonah shook his head slightly, rolling up his sleeves as he approached, finding that Empress wasn't wearing her cloak and dress like his last encounter with her. Instead she wore a more human-business outfit, with her sleeves rolled up just like he was doing to his own, and her respectable outfit was crisp and clean, fitted to her figure almost perfectly...

 _Almost_.

Jonah wasted no time in scouring the cupboards for snacks, drawing Koko's gaze to see that he was using a subtle hand signal to give her a warning. His grip on the cupboard, appearing like just an odd grip on the wood, was actually the crew's signal for 'eavesdropper', and Koko noticed right away.

"What are you looking for, Jonah?" Koko asked, noticing that he was genuinely looking for something to eat, the clever boy.

"Those cheese string things... The ones that we bought last week." Jonah moved his hand into the cupboard to shift things around, knowing that Koko had caught onto his clever warning that Empress was wearing a wire to record their conversation.

"Strength and Rock ate the last one's this morning. I'll make sure to buy some more next time we go for groceries." Koko replied. "I hid a box of cookies in there, you two are more than welcome to have some."

"This one?" Jonah held out the cleverly concealed box for her to confirm.

"Would you like some, Empress?" Koko asked, noting that the Otherworld Queen had been simply observing while she sipped her tea.

"I'd be glad to try one." Empress smiled slightly as she nodded.

After distributing the cookies onto two plates - one for the mothers, one for the children - Koko gave Jonah a nod and a smile, and he picked up on her hidden 'thank you' in her eyes before he went back upstairs with a cookie between his teeth and the plate in his hands.

"So... Empress, how long has that wire been recording our conversation?" Koko slowly pried apart the first Oreo from the plate, while Empress imitated her actions with a learning gaze.

"Clever. But I must admit, it's a decoy. I was asked by Bookman to wear it... The poor man didn't think to ask me to actually turn it on in the first place. I assure you, Koko, it's been off since I left Virginia." Empress took an experimental bite of the half of her Oreo that had the most cream of the two halves in her fingers, quite pleased by the taste of the treat. "I'm still learning new things each and every day I'm here, such as these delicious cookies of yours."

"Hmm... they're great, aren't they?" Koko smiled at Empress' own clever ruse to throw off the CIA. "So what's Bookman getting himself all worked up about now? Aside from my money, of course."

"To my knowledge, he's still going about Undershaft as if recovering from a large battle. He and Hex often refer to dealing with you as a chess match that's already been deemed a 'checkmate' from the very start." Empress finished her Oreo with a pleased hum of approval. "Though I myself have no inclination as to what chess actually is."

"It's a game, one of strategy and control." Koko smiled. "Would you like to learn how to play? It might fool the Americans into thinking I haven't figured them out by now."

"I'd love to learn this game, it intrigues me now." Empress smiled warmly, pointedly pulling another Oreo apart without splitting the cream in the middle like her first one.

* * *

Not much later, Rock and Jonah had finished their whiskey and Oreo's, both of them pleasantly buzzed from the booze, and quite pleased with the rare treat of Koko's notoriously favourite cookies. Of course, Rock had also finished her book, moving on to her next favourite pass time... Making out with Jonah.

As luck would have it, Jonah happened to have closed their bedroom door when he returned with the cookies, so they didn't have to worry about someone seeing them, least of all Empress. So they wasted no time in turning their make out session into a coy game of teasing foreplay, with Rock giggling just as much as she was sighing, moaning and gasping.

Those little giggles were what goaded Jonah on, smirking the entire time as he licked, tickled and caressed her skin. She in turn was getting grabby like she always did, and had long since gone over to that safe Insane without the flames.

Finding herself in just her panties, Rock's skin was riddled with goosebumps at the tender caresses of Jonah's fingertips, making her coo and sigh with each spine tingling touch. She linked her arms at the wrist behind Jonah's head, sinuously molding her body against his gorgeous muscular chest. Jonah likewise seized both of her ass cheeks in his hands, giving them a firm squeeze as she kissed him with a hum of approval.

"You're all mine." Rock had ditched her voice adapter at some point during their heated foreplay, but that didn't mean she was going to let her mother's curse-rune stop her from communicating with her lover. The breaths of air from her Silenced words were still enough for Jonah to understand what she was enunciating when she whispered the words into his ear, ruffling his hair slightly while he kissed her collarbone.

With a sharp intake of breath, Rock bit her lower lip as Jonah's questing fingers teased her wet entrance, gently caressing her outer lips and hyper sensitive clefts of quivering skin on either side of her slit. Her knees began to shake, trying to resist the intensity of his feather light touches to her raging inferno centered around her vulva.

As much as she refused to admit it to herself - let alone aloud - she knew she was at Jonah's mercy right now. Silenced or not, he was making her sing and writhe to his tune, and she was too far gone into the throes of their passion to muster any sort of effective resistance.

Jonah, of course, was enjoying her little squeaks of sighs alongside her throaty moans of lust, watching her glowing purple eyes rolling around in her head, out of focus and fluttering rapidly with every single tease of his fingers. All she could do right now was hang on for the ride.

And she did just that, her breathing shallow and rapid as she reached the crest of her release, only to feel a familiar, but somehow foreign insertion in place of Jonah's fingers. It denied her of her orgasm, making her instantly snap back to reality, staring at Jonah in confusion, still holding her arms around his neck the exact same way, with her wrists linked at the base of his skull.

"Shhh, just relax." Jonah's smile, one so full of love and trust, almost made her melt into a gooey mess in his arms. "I'll go slow."

Rock knew talking was useless with her adapter somewhere on the floor, so she nodded and gave him a fiery kiss as he slowly worked up a slow pace, drawing out another pent up sigh from Rock's lips, her eyes closed as she grew accustomed to having his length inside her.

It didn't take long for her to take over setting the pace, working into a mirrored rhythm, pulling her hips back when Jonah did, and thrusting forward when he followed it up. This off kilter timing was explosively intensifying the stream of pleasure coursing straight up her spine, making her grit her teeth with each burst, only to suddenly latch her teeth into the muscles of Jonah's shoulder, likewise her fingernails scratching his shoulder blade and knotting into the hair at the back of his head.

Her sudden roughness didn't even falter their perfectly synchronized pace, instead rewarded Jonah with the knowledge that she was enjoying every single moment. Her bite marks and scratches on his head and back wouldn't be shameful either, instead he'd carry the marks like trophies.

With a sudden, and very adorable squeak as her limited voice caught in her throat, Rock's jaw clamped down on his shoulder just as strongly as he dripping entrance locked around his shaft in a vice grip, her whole body shuddering and twitching as she came for several long, luxurious moments, which simultaneously sent Jonah over the edge too, flooding her spasming entrance with his own release, unable to escape from her clutches even if he tried.

With a thin line of saliva connecting her lips to Jonah's highly bite-marked shoulder, like a fangless vampire tried to drink his blood but couldn't pierce his flesh, Rock went limp in his arms, her surprisingly powerful jaw slackening as she passed out before she could muster any sort of resistance.

* * *

"And that... is a checkmate." Koko placed her knight piece in position to nail in the final nail of Empress' King's coffin. "Well played, Empress. You're actually pretty skilled at this for a first-timer."

"It's much like directing troops on a battlefield, which I have more than plenty of experience with." Empress, who bowed her head slightly in defeat, was quite pleased by their fifty minute long duel - after a twenty minute tutorial for how each piece was used - and by no means had reason to dispute her defeat.

"Ohayo!" The sound of Chariot's voice came from the front door at that moment, whom had been down at the firing range doing some solo practice with her sword and shield, which drew the attention of both women as a small fuzzy black creature came rocketing down the hall out of no where. It immediately scampered right up the side of Empress' leg, drawing her heterochromatic gaze down to the sharp clawed creature climbing up her thigh... Only to suddenly shriek in terror, causing the small kitten to fall backwards and retreat back the way it came as Chariot scooped it up and hurried into the kitchen to see Empress' startled expression staring at the small all black cat in her arms. "Uh..." She faltered as she felt the radiating magical power coming from Empress, realizing just who it was that she was seeing. "My Queen, forgive the intrusion. It was not my intention to startle you."

"What in the world is that _vile_ creature, Miss Chariot?!" Empress was still reeling from the fright, so it took her a moment as well to realize that she at least recognized Chariot's slightly unique magical energy.

"That's called a cat." Koko had been surprised by the sudden arrival of the feline too, but Empress' shriek had startled her much worse. She recovered quickly, then addressed her oldest daughter with a stern stare. "Which leads me to my next question... What is a cat doing here?"

"I found it down at the range, I think it's a stray. I was gonna feed it until the nearest vet could have a look at it, but I had no idea Queen Black Star was here."

"You're going to _keep_ it?" Empress couldn't fathom how such a creature was worth keeping.

"Her call." Chariot pointed at Koko, who was pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed.

"Have the vet check it out, then I'll think about what we'll do with it... I'm still processing the fact that _you're_ scared of cats, Empress..." Koko opened her eyes to look Empress right in the eye. "Rock's terrified of spiders, but at least hers makes sense to me. I mean, really? _Cats_?!"

* * *

 **A/N: According to Black Rock Shooter lore, Black Star Empress (who is a real thing, though I have no knowledge of her appearance and have taken author's liberty in designing her) is terrified of cats. Thanks goes to How-Not-To-Do-Something and Admiral Fatass for providing me with this information.**


	41. Chapter 41

"Excuse me?" Hex stared at Empress for what was perhaps her most ludicrous idea yet. "Run that by me one more time."

"I want to take you out for dinner, this evening." Empress repeated her words after returning to the safehouse with a Portal Sphere, having just come back from England, Koko had invited her to stay for dinner - which went over rather tamely for her daughter, who was in a suspiciously good mood after an apparent nap all afternoon - and she had accepted. Now, she was back in Virginia with an idea in mind that was originally from Koko when they chatted over dinner.

"What, like a date?" Hex checked her watch for the time, calculating the timezone differences for a moment before concluding that Empress may have stayed long enough to have eaten with Koko and her family of Otherworlders.

"If you so wish it to be, then yes, a date." Empress smiled very faintly. "You think about it for a bit, I'll go tell Bookman what he wants to hear about Koko. I shall return as soon as I'm finished with him and his lackey, that Scarecrow man."

"Before you go, what'd you find out?" Hex asked, briefly distracted from her choice for the evening's events.

"Koko asked that I withhold the direct memories, unfortunately. I can say that she figured out several of my attempts at subtlety, and she told me what the money we know she's hiding is being used for." Empress took a moment to choose her words for her next sentence. "It's actually not as sinister as it would seem."

"It's just you and me, can you at least elaborate on that last part?" Hex sighed slightly, knowing that Koko's maneuvering and requests weren't without a reason to keep Empress from talking about it.

"She's building an information network that would make your head spin if you tried to figure it out. I am intelligent in my own rights, but what she was describing to me was far beyond what I could even fathom." Empress nodded only once as she finished. "That stays between you, her and I. Agreed?"

"Yeah, I get it." Hex nodded. "Alright, you go deal with Bookman, I'll be here trying to make up my mind about tonight."

"I'll be back soon." Empress manifested another Portal Sphere, this time headed for Bookman's office as she stepped through by herself, without even calling for Beast to join her.

That small detail made Hex smile slightly for just a moment before she went downstairs to get a coffee, finding Beast eating an apple at the kitchen's breakfast bar.

"I already know she left again." Beast didn't look up from what she was reading, which Hex couldn't see from the other side of the central countertop between them due to the different height levels of the surface.

"She went to speak with Bookman about her visit with Koko." Hex, although they still didn't exactly get along with each other, replied to the commentary as she set about to prepare her coffee. "What are you reading?"

"My sister's profile that you created after Prague." Beast tore off a chunk of her fruit with a loud crunch. "Something about her has changed, and I want to know what it is that causes her to destabilize into that purple state."

"If I knew, it'd have gone straight into her profile." Hex sighed for a moment, a phantom ache rising in her scarred face at the mention of Prague. "If you have any suggestions or ideas, I'd like to hear them."

"The boy." Beast replied, swallowing the apple chunk she'd been chewing on. "He has a darkness about him, it clings to his shoulders and head like fog."

"You think I can sense that stuff?" Hex chuckled for a moment. "C'mon, kid, I need details that I can understand."

"He's been cursed by a mage... One of us." Beast looked up and stared Hex right in the eye. "And it wasn't Black Gold Saw's doing. It was already there when we arrived."

"Can you tell me more about whatever this curse thing is?" Hex pulled out a stool beside her and sat down.

"I sensed that it's not actively harming him, more than likely it's somehow being regularly reapplied to him in some manner. Curses such as that are beyond trivial, so whoever's putting it on him wants something of him. Keeping him in line would seem like a reasonable theory, but who's doing it? And what is this line they want him to obey? I'd need to see they boy in person to give you more than that. I am not a mage, I can just sense certain types of magic through my flame." Beast vaguely pointed her index finger at her ever-burning left eye.

"I'll talk to your mother when she gets back, gonna give her the direct memories of what you've been talking about. I'm not a mage either, let alone an Otherworlder, so your mother's the best place to start for that kind of shit."

"Something else about that curse..." Beast exhaled through her nose for a moment. "It's oddly familiar, I've seen it before, back home in Otherworld. So it isn't from the Necromancer or the Battle-Mage that live with him. They're far too novice of mages for this kind of curse... It's stronger than it seems."

"I don't actually see a reason for those two to even attempt cursing him in the first place. Their relationships are as siblings, it wouldn't make sense." Hex got up to pour her coffee from the now filled pot on the machine.

"You don't know that. White, my older sister, is a mage, and she'd curse me or Rock for no reason. Not even for a laugh or an experiment. She'd just do it." Beast closed the file and finished off her apple by eating the entire thing, core and all, in one mouthful. "She almost killed Rock on at least seven separate occasions, and myself twice."

"She doesn't sound very stable herself, if you ask me." Hex smirked as she sat back down beside Beast. "And it sounds like she's got it out for the brat, if she tried to kill her with those curses so damn much."

"White's not easy to understand, let alone to deal with. Why do you even think I'm here on Earth instead of protecting her?" Beast swallowed the apple with a loud gulp. "Sibling rivalry takes on a whole new meaning when you're trained as a killer. Doesn't matter if it's with a weapon or a spell."

"You say that to an only child." Hex sipped her coffee just as Empress returned in her Portal Sphere.

"That man... up to something, he is." Empress noticed Hex and Beast had clearly been talking - in a civil manner, of all things - and sensed Hex was already sharing the memory of the conversation. She accepted it immediately and hummed in thought. "So that's what I sensed from him in Prague..."

"You have any idea what the hell it is?" Hex could only sense that Empress was reviewing the details from their chat, clearly thinking about something behind the flurry of intel scraps concerning Jonah Mar, Rock's Lifelink partner and brother in Koko's little family.

"It's definitely manipulative in nature, a shadow manifestation means it reports back to the caster, but if it's gaseous like a fog, it's coming from inside of his body... He's clearly unaware of it, and I didn't even sense anything while I was at the house... that means something else in the house is cursing him alongside whatever's inside of him that gives off the fog..." Empress explained, splaying her fingers around her red eye, using her other arm to support her elbow against her ribs. "And you were correct in thinking it's powerful. I can't say for certain, but we should act under the assumption that my daughter has received this curse from him through their Lifelink. A normal Link wouldn't be compromised like that, but the boy isn't an Otherworlder to begin with... So curses may act differently than even the caster intends."

"Anything about that curse that might give away who did it? Beast did mention it seemed familiar from back home." Hex indicated the girl with a nod of her head in her general direction.

"Unfortunately I would have to ignite my own eyes and see that for myself. But yes, there are certain things that give away hints of who cast it. But there's two curses at work, and they're both afflicted, so it's a lot more difficult to ascertain those hints without being in their presence and actively searching for magical energies." Empress shook her head. "I will at least set plans to visit Koko again at a later time, and pass along this memory to her... with her permission, of course."

"Oh, right... doing that's painful when you're not Lifelinked to the person." Hex recalled when Empress did that to her when she and Black Gold Saw had been fighting, right after her recon op on Koko.

* * *

"Mmmm... You look beautiful." Empress smiled at Hex, who was wearing a very surprisingly elegant burgundy cocktail dress and heels, her brunette hair carefully arranged to frame her face and conceal her scar, since the stark contrast of the white scarring to her skin tone threw off her otherwise beautiful features.

"You're one to talk, you're a looker too." Hex took a moment - in which she visibly blushed at Empress' compliment - to come up with her own praise, since Empress likewise wore a beautiful dress, which was a knee length fitted black dress with a silver sash around her waist. She also had a clutch purse of black leather in her hand.

"Shall we? I've already reserved our table." Empress gestured to the restaurant behind her, a nice upper class establishment that subtly befitted her Royal status.

"S-sure." Hex nodded, then fell into step at Empress' side as they entered to find a waiter standing at a small reception podium.

"Greeting ladies, we've been expecting you. If you'll kindly follow me to your private table." The man, curt and precise, gestured for them to follow him into the dining area.

" _Mind if I ask how you pulled this off on such short notice?_ " Hex asked Empress in Old Speak as they followed the man to the back corner of the hall, where a private table was waiting, with a 'Reserved' notice sitting atop the surface.

" _Magic persuasion and memory manipulation, my dear. We won't be paying a dime either, since I 'paid in advance' for our meals_." Empress replied in kind, smiling in a slightly sly way.

"Your menus. I shall return in a few minutes to receive your orders. If you'll excuse me." The waiter swept the notice card off the table and replaced it with their menus, his razor sharp precision evident as he curtly bowed and retreated from the slightly dimmed corner.

" _Hmmm..._ " Empress wasted no time in opening hers and scanning the various dishes. " _I must say, I quite enjoy this establishment's atmosphere_." She continued speaking in Old Speak now that they were alone.

" _How does it compare to back home at your Palace?_ " Hex smiled slightly with a teasing glint in her eye.

" _Less servants, far less guardsman, and slightly dimmer lighting_." Empress smiled at Hex's tease. " _And of course, less children to parent_."

" _Speaking of which, what's Beast doing without us_?"

" _Believe it or not, Beast is fond of cooking. I'm sure she's trying something new for herself since she's home alone for the evening_." Empress' smile widened as she continued to peruse the menu.

" _She's full of surprises, that one_." Hex chuckled at the very unexpected revelation. She finally came across a dish she knew, and decided to order it, closing her menu at the same time Empress closed her own.

" _Some of those dishes are quite interesting, for sure._ " Empress glanced at the menu's cover for a moment. " _Now we require that gentleman to return as declared_."

Almost as if summoned, the man seemed to fade out of the dimness, already holding a leather backed notepad and a pen.

"Pardon me, have you ladies decided on your meals for this evening?"

Hex could see the surprised amusement glinting in Empress' eyes, which gave away that it was simply a coincidence that he'd arrived at that moment. So they placed their orders, and he took note of it before asking. "And your drinks to accompany your meal?"

"Just water, thank you." Empress casually held up her hand to decline any wine.

"Myself as well." Hex nodded as the man turned to her next.

"Of course. I shall return momentarily with your water, and your meals will be ready soon. If you'll excuse me." He bowed and left in the same precise curtness as before, leaving them to smile at each other in amusement.

" _I think his timing is most amusing_." Empress chuckled for a moment. " _Not that he would've known what we've been saying to each other this entire time._ "

" _That reminds me... Why did you let Koko and her people learn Old Speak if you silenced your daughter_?" Hex asked curiously.

" _Partly for them to read the curse-rune on her tongue, but also because I could tell they needed more than just a gift each. Something mutual like that would come across as a gift, rather than a bribe of individual gifts_."

" _You think they thought of it as a bribe_?" Hex laughed slightly. " _I disagree. Sure, you shut the brat up, but I highly doubt she'd just roll over and stay quiet. Did she say anything during dinner when you were there_?"

" _Admittedly no. She was quiet during the few moments when she wasn't eating everything on her plate. Same with the young man, Jonah. They both were more focused on their food than my presence_." Empress shook her head slightly. " _That being said, I didn't get the impression that they'd come up with a means of communication for her either. If they did, then they weren't using it at the time_."

" _Could those two mage girls remove it_?" Hex asked, just as the waiter returned with a glass pitcher of iced water and two glasses, filling them both and bowing without a word, seemingly oblivious to their 'foreign' conversation.

" _A curse such as mine can be removed, even by the girls with their specializations. However, it would take them some time and a substantial amount of effort to do so. If I were in their shoes, what I would do is focus on learning healing magic to remove scars, while the other girl learned the opposite form of the curse, which is used to amplify a noise or voice. Then, together they would use these simultaneously on her tongue, which would remove the whole thing and return her voice to her without any residual effects_."

" _So you cursed the scarring on her tongue... but she still has her voice itself_." Hex didn't quite understand how it forced her to be silenced, but she at least put the pieces together for what did what and where things were.

" _Think of it this way... When she tries to speak, the word itself is absorbed by the rune on her tongue before it can escape her lips. If she's not speaking directly, then those sounds aren't absorbed and move unrestricted. The word that adorns her tongue, although read as the word 'Silence', actually means 'Censored' if said in New Speak, or English. The reverse of it - the one they'd need to use if they planned to neutralize the rune - would be read as the word 'Reveal' when written down, but means 'Honesty'_."

" _So mages manipulate words when they use their spells..._ " Hex followed along so far. " _Or is it the word being given magic that makes it do that_?"

" _Sort of_." Empress nodded slightly. " _By channeling energy into the word, a mage imbues it with power, which then forms the effect in question. Of course, all spells are in Old Speak, since New Speak cannot be charged with energy. That came about as a means to avoid causing problems when accidentally channeling energy into their voices. For example, a Necromancer that wishes to bury a corpse would channel their magic into the Old Speak word for 'Burial' which then causes the corpse they're using to sink into the ground without the need for a shovel. Or, if I wished to refill our drinks, I would channel my magic into saying 'Refill', which would of course refill our glasses with water_."

" _So, say I wanted to really fix my face. Like, back to full function with no scar. Would that be possible?_ " Hex asked. " _This is hypothetical, by the way_."

" _Unfortunately, that wouldn't work... with one spell_." Empress held up one finger to show she wasn't finished explaining. " _First spell, the scarring would be completely removed. Second spell would be to temporarily blind you in both eyes. Yes, there's a method to this, but is very time consuming and exhaustive for even a mage such as myself or Black Gold Saw_." Empress smiled slightly. " _After blinding you, you would be given a curse known as a Mirroring Curse. What that does is it reverses whatever the caster wants to reverse on you, which in this case would be your blindness. That would render you able to fully see again, but one last thing to do would be cast a Purification spell, which takes a ritual and several material components to perform. When done, it would remove the Mirroring Curse itself, but likewise remove your previous blindness that the Mirror is affecting_."

" _So, if you did this by yourself, and had everything you needed... How long would this whole process take?_ " Hex was still asking hypothetically.

" _If I had to do it myself, without assistance... I would be able to complete it in about five days, since I would need to replenish my magical energy by sleeping for at least a full night each time. If I had assistance from even a novice mage, to handle the more simple spells involved, then this process could be done within three, maybe four depending on the novice's capabilities. If Black Gold Saw helped me, then it'd be one and a half days. You'd have to spend the night blinded, in that example. If it were even possible, adding my oldest daughter to the scenario would make the whole process take a mere three hours_."

" _Could all three of you revive someone from death? Because even I can tell that the three of you would be incredibly powerful together_." Hex didn't fail to notice the jump in time required for the healing process for her eye.

" _We would also need a Necromancer, even a novice such as Dead Master, that girl with Koko_." Empress explained before adding. " _Specialist mages of any kind are better to have than a generally powerful mage such as the three of us. None of us are considered specialized in any magical field of study_."

" _How many fields are there_?" Hex asked, taking a sip of water.

" _Some are more popular than others, other require particular methods or styles, some are even more difficult or draining than others... But, to answer your question directly, there are many, many fields of study, but they generally fall under certain... 'schools' of magic_."

" _So how many schools are there_?" Hex found that thinking of it this way made more sense than listing them all off individually.

" _Healing, Necromancy, Summoning, Creation, Destruction, Divination, Illusion, Manipulation and lastly, Curses_." Empress listed them off on her fingers. " _All of them can be practiced by any mage, even a specialist... but specializing or even devoting to one particular school grants potent abilities._ "

" _So there's nine categories of magic, and each one has their own slew of fields of study._ " Hex concluded with a nod. " _I take it that Dead Master already has her specialized abilities, even if she's a novice?_ "

" _With time, a mage also develops a universal trait, regardless of their focus in a school_." Empress shook her head. " _This is true for all mages, even myself... We grow horns from our heads. Which are always unique in appearance, but the size of them determine one's capabilities as a mage_."

" _You clearly make yours invisible, I noticed_." Hex recalled that Black Gold Saw's horns were smooth in texture and were black at the base before transitioning to a red near the tips.

" _I have... large horns, yes_." Empress nodded slightly. " _To the point that they alter my sense of balance at times_."

" _How many? Just two big ones_?"

" _Six_." Empress shook her head. " _Two are much larger than the other four._ "

" _And what about your oldest daughter_?"

" _She makes them invisible like I do. She has four, but she was growing a third pair when I last saw her revealing them_."

" _Could you show me yours... Um, when we go back home, I mean..._ " Hex felt incredibly awkward in asking to see Empress' horns, since it felt rather intimate to ask such a thing.

" _You want to see them for yourself rather than from a memory, don't you_?" Empress inwardly found Hex's nervousness rather endearing, almost to the point of being adorably cute. So she couldn't resist making her tone sound very sultry and seductive as she spoke.

" _I do, yeah... I mean, if it's not rude for me to ask that..._ " Hex averted her gaze away from Empress' cocky expression - a mixture of teasing, amusement, and seductive - to try and keep herself from backpedaling like a pathetic virgin girl that was nervous about asking a boy out on a date.

" _I hide them to keep my sense of balance in check... I do not hide them out of shame, Hex._ " Empress could tell that Hex was nervous about the request, but beyond that she was unable to determine Hex's thoughts because she was actively blocking her from sensing them through their Lifelink. " _But, if it's just for you, Hex, I'd be glad to show you my horns whenever you want._ "

Now Hex's face was turning red, no thanks to Empress' seductive tone that she used for the second half of her statement.

" _One last thing..._ " Hex's nerves were making her hands shake slightly. " _Remember when you dove into my mind and found my true feelings towards you_?"

" _I do, yes_." Empress smiled, since she also had taken another memory that was related to Hex's feelings towards her.

" _I uh... I was wondering... about that memory you found with my true feelings for you_." Hex was hesitating slightly. " _I uh..._ "

" _Well..._ " Empress stopped her teasing tone and adopted a serious expression. " _I think that I can at least reveal_ some _of that information to you... But... as I said at the time, I will reveal everything when I feel the time is right. Is that fair_?"

" _Yes, that's more than fair_." Hex nodded once.

" _Which part shall I say? The memory, or your feelings_?" Empress decided to at least let Hex choose that much.

" _The memory... please_." Hex averted her gaze, bracing herself for a particularly bad one.

" _The memory I found was from your second year of college, the party you went to on the weekend after your midterm exams were finished. I will not say anymore, since I also know that you still remember that night's events very clearly_." Empress kept her tone level, as to not tip the delicate balance of emotions that Hex still felt about that particular night.

Hex's face stayed neutral for a moment, bringing forth that night from her mind. Then her eye widened, she went nearly scarlet in the face from embarrassment, then went pale as she realized that, yes, Empress knew _everything_ that had happened that night.

" _And that memory... is related to my true feelings towards you, somehow_?" Hex was thankful that their waiter hadn't returned yet, with his impeccable timing.

" _Yes, it is. And that is all I will say for now... Until, as I previously stated, I feel that the time is right._ " Empress nodded slowly. " _However, I will say this... I pass no judgement on you for the events at that party_."

Hex felt a wave of relief at those words, able to sense that Empress was being genuine in her statement. " _Thank you... I uh, I appreciate that_."

"Pardon me, ladies, your meals for this evening." The waiter appeared at that moment, pushing a trolley with their plates covered by highly polished silver domes to keep them warm.

"Thank you, sir. You have some most excellent timing." Empress couldn't help but smile at yet another display of him unknowingly arriving at the perfect moment.


	42. Chapter 42

"Alright, here's the deal..." Koko announced to the crew and her children suddenly at breakfast a couple weeks after Empress had come to visit. "I've got a meeting today in London with Minami, but there's a bit of a hitch..."

"Vat kind of 'itch?" Rock looked over at her mother suspiciously.

"Turns out a certain someone you've previously dealt with didn't get the memo about staying dead." Koko let out a slow exhale for a moment. "Minami apparently hired that Lieutenant of Chen's, the one Jonah shot in that mountain op. Chen must've kicked her to the curb after that whole fiasco, so now she's Minami's secretary, her name's Karen Low."

"And your point?" Jonah asked, since he didn't really care that the woman had survived. He knew he'd missed her heart, so she must've gotten rescued pretty quickly, or at least did some first aid on herself to buy some time.

"I don't want you or her to start any shit today, so I want you two to either stay here, or take Jonah's bike into London for the day." Koko was of course trying to minimize any potential problems for today, so keeping her youngest two busy was her first task to deal with before even arriving at the meeting with her friend.

"I don't 'ave a problem vizz zat." Rock shrugged, glancing at Jonah, since it was his bike - a magically modified Otherworld creation that Empress had gifted to him for taking Rock's voice away, back in Prague - that they would be riding into the city.

"How long will you be meeting with Dr. Miami?" Jonah asked, chewing on some toast.

"At least all morning. Then we have to go grocery shopping, so we should be done by about dinnertime, if all goes well. Your curfew would be sunset, sound fair?"

"Fine by me." Jonah felt no need to object either, so they both resumed eating, considering how to spend their 'assigned' day off-duty.

* * *

"Alright you two, don't get yourselves into too much trouble today." Koko waved at them from the front passenger seat of the sedan before it drove off, leaving Jonah to spawn his bike in the same scarlet light as when he summoned his Cannon.

With an identical red-tinted metal body as his Cannon, the bike's chassis was equal parts sleek and menacing, and looked human-made enough that it didn't come across as magical in nature. Specifically, it was magically modified to never need gas, with a tough armoured framework and nearly invulnerable tires, all while being effortless for him to control even at high speeds. It also spawned in with a helmet for him and Rock to each wear, likewise enchanted for extreme durability.

"Ready to go?" Jonah handed her the helmet after swinging his leg over the bike and turning the key in the ignition - the key was also magic, and could only be turned or even removed from the slot by him, not even Rock could pull it out or turn it over - as she quickly got into position against his back, pulling the helmet into place with her free hand, the other already holding around his stomach.

"I'm good." Rock replied, sliding the visor into place before putting both hands around his stomach.

With that, they were off, heading for London to enjoy the day.

* * *

Several hours later, after wandering around the mall, Rock and Jonah were just about to enter another store when Koko sent Jonah a text, which was just asking them to check in. Rock wandered inside while Jonah sent the reply, passing a group of teens near the entrance display racks. She didn't notice the scathing glares from the girls in the group, nor the predatory smirks on the boys faces.

Browsing one of the clothing racks, Rock felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising, knowing that Jonah was still out front. She glanced up and saw a reflective security camera, upon which she noted that the teenagers she had passed were sneaking up on her, trying to surround her.

"Vun more step and you're going to be greeted by John Browning's finest." Rock warned without looking up.

"Just hand over your money, make this quick and quiet, bitch." One guy, the closest to her, spoke quietly with a leer on his face.

"And vat makes you zink I'm just going to roll over and play dead like zat?" Rock asked, sparing him an amused glance, cocking one eyebrow and smirking at him.

Click.

"Oh zat's cute, you 'ave a nail file." Rock knew he'd flicked a switchblade open. "I 'ighly doubt you even realize vat I meant by John Browning's finest."

"Last warning, bitch. Money, now." He took a step - which was already declared to be a bad idea - to try and intimidate her, only to see her smirk before he found himself flat on his back with her hand on his shirt collar. From that angle he could see the shoulder holster under her jacket that contained her custom Colt.

"I varned you. Your fault for not listening." Rock stood up and approached Jonah, who had been prowling behind the girls - who had stayed a few steps back to watch - in case he had to jump in. "Couldn't find anyzing in my size, let's go grab somezing to eat."

"You didn't use your Colt." Jonah pointed out, well aware that the boys were back on their feet with livid glares as they walked back into the main thoroughfare of the mall.

"I opened my jacket with my uzzer 'and. I know he saw it from zere." Rock replied, smirking as she detected the sound of the boys beginning to follow them. She sighed loudly. "Should ve make it a big scene?"

"There's a guard coming this way, follow my lead." Jonah replied quietly, smirking slightly.

With ease, they wandered in the direction of the oncoming security guard, keeping an ear focused on the approaching boys that were too focused on their backs to take note of their surroundings. By the time the boys were within reach, the guard had taken a look at their aggressive movements and could tell something was wrong. He radioed for backup just as Rock and Jonah were passing, and he saw the look Jonah gave him, a warning look, before the two teens vanished into the crowds completely.

In seconds, the two boys were stopped and spoken to, then started making a big scene by arguing with the guard, which quickly escalated into yelling and an immediate apprehension when more guards arrived.

"You're such a smartass." Rock shook her head with an amused smile, since he neither agreed nor disagreed with her question about making a scene with the boys.

"You should see me when I'm actually trying." Jonah chuckled, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Much more entertaining results."

* * *

That evening, the pair stopped for some takeout dinner briefly before riding Jonah's bike back home. They arrived just in time to see Koko stepping out of the sedan, her arms laden with grocery bags.

"Hop to." Koko wasted no time in explaining, smirking slightly as she saw the 'busted' expressions on their faces for their coincidental timing. "If you're still hungry, you're more than welcome to join us for dinner. Lehm and Wiley are cooking tonight."

While they were going back and forth with the bags, Rock felt a strange tug on her chest, which was uncomfortable enough to make her pause for a moment, something that Koko saw and Jonah sensed.

"You alright?" Koko immediately took the bag from Rock's hands, noting that Rock's face looked worried for a moment.

"I... zink I just 'urt myself." Rock gulped for a moment. "Right 'ere." She indicated her ribs, just under her arm.

"I'll handle the rest, you two go inside and get yourself sorted out..." Koko nodded at Jonah, who quickly and carefully helped Rock inside, headed straight upstairs after they'd kicked off their boots. He could sense the pain, so he lead her to the bathroom and carefully helped her remove her jacket, coming face to face with an unnerving sight.

"Ah fuck..." Jonah sighed slightly. "Looks like your stitches finally tore."

"My regen'ration is making zis 'urt, can you pull zem out?" Rock was more annoyed with her blue blood staining her shirt than the fact her stitches were finally falling apart.

"I'll need to get some scissors first. It's too precise for our Blades." Jonah took the hem of her shirt and tugged it upwards slightly. "You take this off and cover the wound with your hand, I'll be right back."

With a nod, Rock made careful moves to pull the stained shirt over her head, feeling the piercing pain of the wound reopening whenever she extended her torso or lifted her arm. To make matters worse, her bra was in the way and seemed to be agitating things even further.

"Hey, Jonah just told me what's wrong." Valmet suddenly arrived in the bathroom with Jonah following behind her. "It shouldn't be too bad, alright? All the guys are busy downstairs with the groceries, so let me help you get your bra off." Valmet wasted no time in assessing the damage, and could tell that Rock's bra was in the way.

With careful movements, Valmet and Rock removed the stained bra and put it aside with her shirt, then worked together to precisely extract every single stitch in her flesh, Valmet working at the damaged ones in her ribs, while Jonah did the lower ones on her hip, making sure to keep Rock calm and relaxed throughout the painful process.

Of course, once freed, her flesh began to knit itself back together with a faint hissing sound, turning into a thick scar in about a minute. The process was clearly uncomfortable for Rock - in general, not just the fact they had to take out the stitching - so she was panting heavily with beads of sweat all over her forehead and torso.

"You should be alright now, I mean, regeneration aside, you're not bleeding anymore and the scars aren't incomplete or anything." Valmet smiled gently. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up. Jonah, can you grab her a shirt while we do this?"

"Here." Jonah pulled his own hoodie off and handed it over, leaving him in a lightweight three-quarter sleeve black shirt with a slight V neckline. "I'll handle the stained stuff."

With that, Jonah took the blue-bloodied clothes and went downstairs, leaving Valmet and Rock to clean the rest of her blood from her body and Valmet's hands. Somehow Jonah didn't have a single drop on him after his work on the lower set of stitching on her hip.

"I'm not gonna lie, that shirt looks absolutely great on him." Valmet had noticed Rock's eyes suddenly gleam with excitement when Jonah pulled his hoodie off, that tell tale glint giving away what she was clearly enjoying the sight of his briefly exposed abs in the process. "And don't get me started on how cute it was for him to give you his sweater like that..."

"Zank you for 'elping us vizz zis." Rock blushed slightly at Valmet's teasing while they cleaned the blood up. "I really appreciate zat."

"Don't mention it." Valmet's face broke into a shit eating grin as her voice took on a lowered, sensually charged and husky tone. "It's not like I didn't benefit it either."

Rock's face, just moments ago pink, went snow white - quite a feat for her, in fact - at the same time she felt a shiver run up her spine that wasn't from the cold air against her bare skin.

With a cheeky wink, Valmet left with a smirk on her face, leaving Rock to hurriedly put Jonah's slightly-too-big hoodie on and scurry into their room, her face now turning an unexpected crimson as she closed the door and tried to collect herself.

Sure, it was well known that Rock one had a female-female romantic relationship with Dead Master - who was still open about the fact she was into other girls - but the shock that Valmet's teasing had left on her was making her mind create an unexpectedly twisted slew of thoughts, about both Valmet herself and about Jonah.

Visions of having Valmet in bed with her were bombarding her mind, drinking in the sight and feel of her sculpted muscles and full firm breasts, a playful glint in her eye to match the coy smile on her face... But what made it even worse for Rock was how she was imagining Jonah beside Valmet in that exact same vision...

As a girl.

Her mind kicked into overdrive at that, Jonah's well toned muscles still evident in this feminine form, with perfect curves and and a modest but perky chest, still giving her that special smile that was reserved just for her, red eyes gleaming with mischievous promises and that little cheek scar standing out against the warm glow of his... her... skin and the shine of his... her... silver hair...

Rock inhaled the tantalizing scent that lingered on Jonah's hoodie, sinking her even deeper into her fantasy, unaware that she'd already slid her hand down the front of her pants and into her panties to tease her slickened entrance, cooing softly as her mind played out her actions as if being performed by the female Jonah in her fantasy, sliding feather soft caresses against her slit with one hand, smirking up at her as Valmet moved around behind her back to support her whilst gently beginning to tease similar soft touches along her collarbone and chest.

Rock completely lost track of time, her mental stimulation forming a haze of pleasure without wavering the vivid imagery in her mind, the imaginary threesome unfolding with her in the center, Valmet and fem-Jonah devoting themselves to pleasing her, both directly and indirectly, even going so far as to make out together while she watched, drooling slightly before she bit her lip as she felt her impending release approaching, the pair practically pouncing on her in her mind, accelerating her release's approach as her heart thundered rapidly in her chest, her blue blood racing through her veins as her mind and body were overrun with raw, primal pleasure. Her breathing was erratic, shallow, mixed with gasps and sighs, the entire ensemble working together to perform a glorious symphony of...

A sharp series of knocks at the door against her back suddenly and ruthlessly snapped her back to reality, losing all of her momentum and excitement as she gasped loudly and withdrew her sticky fingers from her pants. She then hid the evidence behind her back, using her other hand to pull the door slightly open to find Koko waiting on the other side.

"Dinner's ready, make sure you wash your hands first, alright?" Koko informed her with a small smile as she nodded in reply. "You probably don't want any blood, red or blue, in your food. Am I right?"

* * *

 **A/N: Two things to comment on here: First, take note of when Jonah interacted with the mall security guard. This is actually a growing ability for him, among others, which is sort of like an aura or pulse of sorts. He can influence CERTAIN emotions in people, which in that case, was a sense of danger, almost at will. Think of him like a video game character that has a few minor magic abilities and a very small mana pool. Rock, under similar context, has her own slew of small magic powers just like him. More detail will come later.**

 **Second, if it hasn't been made clear by now, Rock is bisexual. First relationship (with DM) was lesbian, but now she's in a hetero one with Jonah, yet still harbours interest in females, case in point her reaction to Valmet's teasing.**


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N: Timeline reminder, it's now the first week of December in this chapter. Last chapter was during the last week of November.**

* * *

"Thank you for choose HCLI, it's a pleasure to do business with you and your country." Koko smiled as she shook hands with the military officer that she had just formed a delivery contract with.

"I assure you, the pleasure is ours." He replied just as warmly. "I eagerly await your return later this week."

"Of course, I shall see you there." Koko nodded as the handshake was dropped, allowing her and Lehm to leave the office to return to the awaiting sedan with the three older girls huddled in the backseat watching some sort of anime on Chariot's tablet in English.

"Our deal's on Thursday in the afternoon." Koko explained to the girls after they'd paused the video. "Could one of you text that to Ugo and Lutz to pass the message along to the others. Oh, and tell them we're heading back to the hotel now."

"I got it." Dead Master pulled out her phone and sent the two men the simple message, since they were driving the respective SUV's.

When the returned to the hotel for the evening, the first thing Koko saw after exiting the sedan was Jonah's pale face, looking rather ill.

"Koko... I... don't think it's... human..." Jonah could tell she was able to see what was wrong on his face. "Call Empress... Please..."

"Ugo, Lehm, get him up to our suite. Rock, it's an emergency, I'm sorry, but if Jonah's asking for her by name it must be magic related." Koko gulped as she pulled out her phone to call the woman that was technically an American. She quickly dialed the number as the two men helped Jonah head inside while Rock and Koko shared a matching grimace as the line connected.

"Stella Noire speaking."

"Hi, it's Koko, I have a bit of a problem that requires your particular expertise, do you have a minute?" Koko spoke in English, bracing herself for some sort of problem."

"Are you at home?"

"Ukraine, actually. On business." Koko replied. "It's Jonah, something happened and it's a bit urgent."

"Give us your current GPS co-ordinates, we'll be there soon." Hex's voice suddenly joined the line.

Koko pursed her lips as she leaned into the sedan to check the GPS, reading off the numbers to Hex, finishing off with a "I'll be waiting outside by my car... Rock's with me."

"Got it, I know where you are." With that, the call was no longer necessary and they mutually hung up.

Within twenty minutes, a black sphere formed nearby, depositing Hex and Empress in it's place. Both were in warm coats, clearly aware of the weather.

"He's upstairs, asked for you directly." Koko quickly started walking towards the hotel, the two women and Rock following her long strides to the elevator, mutually silent until they arrived at their floor, spotting Lutz standing guard outside their door.

"How is he?" Koko asked as soon as she was close.

"Compared to outside, not much different. He's still conscious, at least." Lutz opened the door for the women, revealing that Jonah was sitting on the couch still looking incredibly ill.

"Hmmm..." Empress wasted no time in assessing the familiar symptoms, sitting beside Jonah and checking him over thoroughly, well aware of the curse fog that was coming off his shoulders and head, not that any of them could see it, even the mage girls. "Hex, fill them in on what we discussed about Jonah."

"Someone or something in your house is putting a curse on him, it was her middle daughter that spotted a sign of it, back in Prague." Hex indicated Empress, who was leaning in close to Jonah's face to examine his eyes. "You guys and me can't see it, but there's a black fog that's coming out of his head and shoulders. Apparently you can see if if you ignite your eye flame, kid." Hex turned to Rock, who briefly looked suspicious before doing just that, the flame extending in an instant as she stared through the fire and did indeed see the smoke.

"Vy does it seem so familiar?" Rock commented. "I svear I've seen zis smoke before, back in ze palace..."

"Your sister said the same thing." Hex nodded. "And it wasn't Black Gold Saw's doing. Beast said it was already there when they showed up in the Portal Sphere."

"I may need to do something painful to you to delve deeper. Are you okay with this?" Empress asked Jonah, who nodded once.

"What kind of painful?"

"Physical."

"Go for it." Jonah braced himself for the pain, but was confused to find Empress suddenly pressing her forehead against his own.

"Don't say I didn't warn you about the pain."

Jonah didn't even bother making a joke, the sudden agony boring through his forehead was instantaneous, his eyes rolling back into his head as Empress held the back of his head to keep their foreheads in contact with each other.

"What's she doing?" Koko was very concerned, despite the fact Jonah wasn't screaming, it was pretty clear that it was utter agony.

"She's using one of her powers to scan every little nook and cranny of his mind, she's trying to find a memory. She told me it won't hurt if both people are Lifelinked, and that it's much quicker to perform." Hex explained. "And yes, she did it to me."

"What's she looking for?" Koko was well aware that the CIA operative was Linked to the Queen.

"I can't sense anything from her when she does it, sorry." Hex shook her head slightly as she crossed her arms. "This power thing overrides that part of our Lifelink."

With a sudden sigh, Empress slowly leaned her head away from Jonah, still keeping a hand on his back to prevent him from falling over while he recovered from the mind invasion. "I have some mixed news..."

"Let's start with the good news." Koko pursed her lips and imitated Hex's pose with her arms crossed over her stomach.

"I can completely fix him in about fifteen minutes and I can remove the curse from the source item in your home on our way back to Virginia. Believe it or not, it's your front door's knob." Empress explained. "The bad news is that the caster is my oldest daughter, White."

"Isn't she the one holding down the fort back home?" Koko's eyes narrowed into deadly slits. This fucking woman's family was a major source of all of her stress in the past five months.

"That is what I requested her to do, yes... but how she's able to perform her magic from our homeworld, especially in this manner, is very concerning to me." Empress explained with a frown. "Now, let's deal with your most pressing problem right now... Rock, Jonah... I need you both to come here so I can get the curse out of your Lifelink and safely destroy all traces of it from your bodies."

"Vat do you mean by zat?" Rock's eye flame was still lit, so her exposed eye narrowed suspiciously.

"The curse is centered on your Lifelink itself, on Jonah's end of it, so to say." Empress replied, noting that the small device on her choker was the source of her much stronger accent. "I can remove it from your Link, then I will need to remove the last sticky parts that are physically inside of your bodies."

"Do you need anything in particular to actually do this whole process?" Koko asked.

"I'll need a glass of water and a sharp blade... a smaller one than your Blades." Empress added the last part when she noticed Rock and Jonah sharing a glance.

"Valmet, knife. Mao, the water." Koko didn't even have to turn her head before the order was being fulfilled.

Once she had the two items, Empress had the two of them seated on either side of herself, holding Valmet's knife in one hand and the glass of water in her other.

"I'll need you both to cut your hand and put your blood into the glass. After I enchant the mixture, you both need to drink some of it while I physically remove the parts in your bodies. Can you trust me that you won't panic when I do that part?"

"Why would we panic? Does it hurt too?" Jonah asked, frowning slightly.

"Actually no, it's just... visually uncomfortable." Empress shook her head. "Alright, let's get this done, your doorknob is still cursed after all. I need to deal with that on our way back to the US."

With that, the pair did the process of adding their blood - red and blue, respectively - into the water, while Empress charged the mixture with her magic - without vocalizing the incantation, which wasn't a surprise given her level of experience - and put the knife on the nearby coffee table.

"Alright, drink some of it and try to sit still. Depending on how much is still inside you, it might take a minute or two for me to collect it all." Empress nodded for them to do just that, while her hands glowed with a faint green light.

They both took a swig of the strange purple coloured liquid, gulping it down with matching cringes at the potently sour taste, just as Empress thrust her hands into their chests.

Nobody said anything as Empress' hands seemed to become ethereal as she calmly moved her ghostly limbs through their bodies like she was collecting cobwebs. In about a minute, she withdrew her hands, which returned them to solid form, in which she was holding a fistful of pale pink coloured jelly-like material with the consistency of peanut butter.

"Nobody touch this... I need to put it into the mixture so it neutralizes." Empress warned as she did just that, putting chunks of the curse material into the liquid bit by bit until it was all gone and the contents seem to solidify into a brick-like texture. "Alright, give it another five or ten minutes and it will disintegrate completely. It's safe to touch now, even though it's vanishing."

"So, why do I still feel sick?" Jonah asked.

"You'll be fine as soon as it's all gone. Any existing illness you may have will still remain, if present." Empress gave him a pat on the shoulder. "You're curse-free now. By the time you return to England, I'll have purged the curse that's in your home's doorknob. Same goes for you, my dear." Empress turned to her daughter on her other side, nodding slightly.

"Now that we know your big girl's fucking with shit, what do we do about her trying something else?" Hex asked. "I mean, what would happen if she tried to show up here in person?"

"Considering that she's the last of the Royal Family still there, I can only speculate that she's saving that particular tactic for either an emergency or what you call an 'end-game'... It wouldn't be worth it to arrive now."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Koko felt a sense of dread at Empress' words.

"White has had my entire realm to herself..." Empress replied gravely. "I think she might be planning to overthrow me in my absence."

"You ' _think'_?" Jonah laughed darkly. "I think she's already done that, now she wants to get rid of you and all complications that are in her way."

"How do you know?" Hex asked suddenly.

"She wants to guarantee her victory, to make sure her checkmate is lined up before she even reaches the fucking chessboard itself." Jonah replied. "Think of her like Koko, in that sense."

"That's not a welcoming thought... even for me." Koko commented grimly.

* * *

Ontario, Canada... At the same time.

As far as the eye could see, there was snow. On the ground, falling from the clouds, in the trees. Everywhere. And it was cold. Can't forget that part when mentioning a Canadian December.

The only unusual thing in sight, though difficult to see itself, was a long figure clad in very inappropriate attire for their current surroundings at this time of year.

And she was in a fiery mood, which was perhaps the only thing keeping her going right now as she growled in frustration.

"Of course I forget to send a shadow ahead of myself to account for the climate of my depositing Portal Sphere. Such a foolish mistake for someone of my stature." She grumbled to herself in her native language, Old Speak, shivering vigorously as her teeth chattered. She was headed for a nearby building, one that showed signs of activity through a large open window in the front of the structure.

Wasting no time with formalities, she approached the door and unceremoniously shoved it open, immediately casting a Charm onto the young male resident that was bolting out of a nearby chair.

"Warm clothing and a map... right _now_." White Rock Shooter growled through her clenched teeth with as much menace as she could muster for a girl in shorts and a bikini bra that was shivering violently in the doorway.

Ryan smirked at the pitiful sight of his new Mistress' lack of forethought for the veritable blizzard outside. Honestly, the woman had so much shit to deal with, the least she could've done was look out a window before she left. "That map can wait until we deal with your frostbite and hypothermia... Mistress."


	44. Chapter 44

"I refuse."

The sound of Koko's flatly delivered words to her father made for a stunning halt to her immediate vicinity, where all of her children were idly relaxing... Except for Rock and Jonah, who were entwined in one of the armchairs, gently kissing each other with their eyes half closed. They all suddenly stared at their mother, all bearing the same surprised curiosity on their faces.

"You're not taking this deal in Russia... I already said this is a highly profitable contract..." Floyd was audibly annoyed on the phone's line, which was on speaker because Koko was writing notes about something other than the missile deal for the Russians.

"Do you know what today's date is?" Koko asked, still writing with her gaze on the paper.

"December 18th." Floyd replied automatically.

"And do you know who are all sitting with me, listening to this conversation?"

"I am well aware you've been writing something this entire time, so you've had me on speaker." Floyd didn't answer her question.

"Answer the question." Koko's tone darkened slightly.

Floyd sighed. "Hello children."

"Now zat 'e gets ze 'int, ven are you guys leaving?" Rock asked with a small sigh. "Ve've been vaiting for you to finiss viz ze phone call."

"I see." Floyd got the hint now. "Very well, I shall withdraw the offer... for now." He hung up without even a goodbye, so Koko smirked slightly and extended her free hand to her phone, ending the line.

"And a Merry Christmas to you too, you old fart." Koko replied sassily as she wrote out the last few lines and clicked her pen before finally looking up. "Alright, we're going to be buying the first batch of your Christmas gifts today, so since you girls haven't had a Christmas before, I'm gonna warn you now; you're not supposed to look at the gifts until Christmas Day with everyone else. But... I will be bringing home a couple treats, so you can have those."

"What about dinner?" Strength asked as her stomach coincidentally gave a loud growl, her cheeks taking on a faint pink tone at the timing.

"We're gonna get some takeout on the way back, we won't have time for making dinner tonight." Koko folded her hefty note and slid it into her pocket alongside her pen. "Now, since all the adults are going to be helping me with the presents, I'm leaving Chariot in charge because she's the oldest. We'll call when we're grabbing dinner, but otherwise try not to get into _too much_ trouble... You know the house rules, after all."

"I'll grab ze duct tape to stick 'er to ze ceiling." Rock smirked at Chariot with a gleam in her eye.

"You'll be replacing her up there without dinner if you try." Koko's Mom tone instantly sent a chill up Rock's spine.

"What are you planning?" Jonah cupped her face with both hands and smirked at her, his eyes glinting with a sly challenging expression.

"Zat's for me to know and for you to find out ze 'ard vay." Rock cheekily kissed him to avoid the question even further.

* * *

While her siblings were watching TV in the living room, Strength wandered away to hers and Chariot's room - immaculately clean and organized by the two of them - to be by herself for a bit. It wasn't unusual for her to do so, especially during the winter's chilly weather whenever they weren't running their drills at the range.

So, bundling herself up in a blanket over her shoulders and back, Strength glanced down the hall for a moment before closing the door over and climbing into their shared bed, her cheeks warming as she slowly moved her knees up to her small chest, completely covering herself in the blanket like a sort of cocoon-like tent, one hand gripping it from the inside to keep it closed.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind begin to wander as she braved to sneak her free hand down to her panties, feeling the needy heat rising in her chest as she let her fingers explore. She felt her toes curling in her stockings as she breathed out a small sigh.

She soon slid a finger into her now wet slit, gasping slightly at the burst of sensation shooting up her spine. She could feel sweat forming on her forehead, every little stray fiber of the blanket around her body, the shape of her finger inside of her and the tight muscles around it in turn.

She didn't know how long had passed, nor that she'd tossed the blanket away to stem the rising heat, all that she could do was slide her fingers inside of her leaking slit, panting soft shallow breaths as she fondled her small chest through her hooded dress, adding more stimulation to her hazy mind...

With a gasp, Strength opened her eyes in shock as she felt a pair of arms embracing her from behind, sliding down her wrists to smoothly match her own hand as they sinuously pressed against her back.

"Shhh, it's me." Chariot whispered softly into her ear. "Relax, let me help you out."

Strength's cheeks were ablaze with arousal and embarrassment, her skin flushed and shining with a light sweat, and she just let Chariot take over, her heart thundering in her ears as her oldest sister carefully adjusted them so that she was sitting on the edge of their bed with Strength on her lap with her legs straddling her own, her back still pressed against Chariot's more matured torso.

"Dead Master fell asleep, and you know those two and their libido's..." Chariot chuckled slightly. "So don't worry about making any noise, okay?"

Strength nodded, still slightly nervous as Chariot slowly drew back her hood and curled a finger under her chin to turn her head and smile lovingly at her from just inches away before leaning in for a gentle little kiss on Strength's slightly parted lips...

Their mutually first kiss.

* * *

Upstairs, Rock wasted no time in her transition to her purple lust, making quick work of leading Jonah to their desk chair and sitting on his lap, coyly gripping both of his wrists behind the headrest as she passionately made out with him, humming and giggling at the little game she was presently playing with him.

With a sudden ratcheting of metal on metal, she succeeded in her sneaky objective to retrieve the handcuffs she's already planted in the back of the chair, already positioned with the chain looped around the headrest's adjustment post and cleverly concealed until now by her longcoat casually draped over the back of the chair.

Now, with a quick smirk at his sudden confusion, she leaned back and purred in a low voice. "Feeling adventurous? I vant to play a little game vizz you."

"I'll bite, what's this 'game' you're doing?" Jonah gave her a challenging little smirk, a glint in his eyes.

"If you can find ze little lockpick back zere and get out of ze cuffs vile I 'ave my vay vizz you from 'ere, you're allowed to do vun special zing of your choice to me, venever you vant. You lose if I can make you cum before you manage to escape ze 'andcuffs." Rock explained, then pointed at her choker, where a small key was hanging from the little padlock she always wore. "I also 'ave ze key right 'ere, if you ever vant to tap out or try for zat instead of ze pick."

"Did you make sure I couldn't drop the lockpick?" Jonah smiled at her innocent expression.

"Maybe." She leaned forward to add the next part into his ear as she clicked her voice adapter off. " _One way to find out_." He felt the air of her Silenced words at the same time her other hand began to fondle his shaft.

" _Good luck_." Jonah imitated the air-speaking into her nearby ear with a cocky smirk, already beginning to search for the planted lockpick on the back of the chair.

In seconds, Rock slid backwards to rest on her knees in front of his lap, her eyes hungrily staring at his proudly erect shaft as she unconsciously licked her lips in anticipation.

Gripping the base of his shaft with one hand, her other playfully began to tease his sack, fondling the twin orbs contained within as she licked the underside of his glans with the tip of her tongue a few times, briefly tightening her grip on his shaft to distract his search for the lockpick above her.

Jonah tensed at the surprise grip, still scouring every square inch of the headrest with his fingertips, watching her licking and kissing his shaft with a coy little smile, occasionally staring deeply into his eyes for just a moment, a taunting glint in the purple glow before refocusing on her minstrations and teasing.

* * *

Strength was shaking and squirming profusely as Chariot touched and teased her innermost weakspots, drawing out adorable squeaks and throaty moans by the second. She was barely able to speak, and her hand on Chariot's wrist between her legs was guiding her questing fingers to her most delicious spots, while her other was gently holding the side of Chariot's head, needily gripping her mane of blonde hair whenever she touched a particularly sensitive spot.

By now, Chariot had extracted her from her hooded dress, leaving it loosely hanging around Strength's shoulders with her small chest bared and her panties slid to the side to allow access for her fingers to explore her depths unhindered.

Chariot's free hand, having been free to caress and explore as she pleased, found it's way to Strength's powerful six-pack abs, so prominent and toned that she didn't even need to tense them for their glory to show. Her entire body was rippling with powerful muscle tone, beautiful naturally bronze skin and her perky coral pink nipples were long since hardened by her arousal and the slightly chilly air they were exposed to.

"You are beautiful, Strength. Absolutely gorgeous." Chariot traced her fingertips up the center crease between Strength's abs, up her sternum and between her breasts, caressing the side of her neck to smoothly cup the side of her jaw, turning her face for a soft kiss on her lips, staring into Strength's eyes lovingly. "I love you, more than as a sister."

Strength's mind instantly melted, unable to even reply as her whole body went stiff as the sudden praise turned into a confession, making her cum at the combination of stimuli.

* * *

To Rock's credit, she and Jonah hadn't had sex since the night after her mother had removed the curse her sister had put on them. So she became acutely aware of the fact that in those three weeks, Jonah had grown a bit, which included his shaft's length.

With a determined huff, she slid as much of his length into her throat as she could, noting that when she could go no further, she still had about an inch or so of his shaft still unaccounted for. She immediately withdrew with a sharp gasp of air, a mix of annoyed and pleased by the fact he had grown where it mattered.

Glancing up at Jonah, she already knew he'd noticed, and cheekily arched his eyebrows twice with a smirk tugging at his lips as he continued searching for the lockpick she'd planted for him to escape the handcuffs. He hadn't taken his eyes off her since they began, of course.

Before he could make a cheeky comment to go with that damn smirk, Rock dove right back into sucking him off, kissing the underside of the base of his shaft, just above his sack, and intentionally let his amazing length rest on her cheek, the head of his member grazing her hairline for a moment as she enveloped one of his balls in her mouth, imitating his cheeky eyebrow movement with just one of her own, that being the one that wasn't being blocked by his shaft.

That little counterattack clearly succeeded because Jonah's hands seemed to fumble or pause behind the chair, hinting that he might have found where she hid the pick.

"Smartass." Jonah gulped for a moment to collect himself.

She just kissed the side of his shaft near the base again in reply, smirking smugly as if to say 'your point?'.

"But not as much as me." Jonah continued with a chuckle. "I actually tried being one this time, y'know."

Rock's eyebrow shot up, a curious but suspicious expression on her face as she paused her current minstration, which was to lick the length of his shaft from base to head with the curse-rune on her tongue. She slowly withdrew her tongue back into her lips, watching him warily as he slowly revealed the handcuffs that he was cheekily hanging from his index finger, both ends still firmly locked in place.

"Did I ever share the memory of learning how to get out of handcuffs without a key or lockpick? Quite a valuable skill, I do believe." Jonah asked as he also held up the pick. "Smart move sticking the pick in the chain itself. I caught it when I got my hands free."

Quick as a flash Rock had her adapter turned back on, sitting on his lap and slowly grinding her panty-clad hips against his shaft trapped between their bodies, keeping them both somewhat stimulated so that their mutual arousal wouldn't be wasted. "Vut ze fuck? 'ow did I not catch ze movements?"

"Lots of practice and good timing." Jonah winked. "Now then... You said if I escape I'm allowed to do something special to you whenever I want."

"I did, yes." Rock extended her torso and gave him a kiss for a moment. "Your revard. Now, can you at least tell me vat zat vill be?" She asked as she put her hands on her hips in a mock display of authority.

"I haven't decided yet..." Jonah teased, one hand gripping her perky rear and the other reaching around her upper back to pull her against his chest. "But... I _have_ decided to return the favour."

"Vat fav...?" Rock asked, only to gasping surprise as Jonah outsmarted her yet again, feeling the cold steel of the handcuffs ratchet around her wrists behind her back.

"No games this time, just bondage. Interested?" Jonah asked with a single raised eyebrow and cheeky smirk. "And you still have the key, y'know."

"'ave you ever tried _too 'ard_ at being a smartass?" Rock realized that this was going to be an... interesting game of keeping her balance if she wanted to stay straddled on his lap with her arms handcuffed behind her back like this.

"That, my dear Princess, is called being a jackass." Koko chuckled at the amusing display she found them in, since they'd forgotten to close their door and failed to notice her smirking at them for well over a minute before speaking. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the two of you strong enough to break those handcuffs anyway? Not to mention how _vanilla_ your attempt at BDSM is..."

"And you 'ave experience vizz zis BDSM?" Rock asked, peering over her shoulder at the doorway to speak to her mother.

"Y'know that voice Valmet sometimes uses? The higher pitch one when she's flirting with me?" Koko asked with a smirk, and they both nodded. "Imagine what it sounds like when she's getting whipped with a riding crop while she's been bound by an expert at BDSM. Bonus points if you can imagine it when that voice is being muffled by a ballgag."

"We 'ave 'eard it, actually." Rock smirked. "You're not ze only vun zat listens from ze 'allway, y'know."


	45. Chapter 45

**A/N: Here's that Christmas chapter I promised after the Halloween one in Chapter 34. I decided against adding the New Years Eve segment because of how I planned out this chapter. The New Years Eve scene will not be taking place at all.**

* * *

"So... what would be a typical holiday or annual tradition back in Otherworld culture?" Jonah was curious about Rock's rather muted - irony aside - reactions to the Christmas spirit since the beginning of the month. Being from Otherworld aside, she just didn't seem as interested compared to Halloween.

"Few of zem remained after my muzzer became Queen. Aside from vat you call Remembrance Day, ve only 'ave vun per season, on ze Solstice and ze Equinox, of course." Rock explained as she played with Roxy on their floor. "She 'as been Queen for over twenty years, and now White is trying to steal 'er throne..."

"You're worried, aren't you?" Jonah didn't even need to check their Lifelink to know that fact.

"After my muzzer and I shared vat ve could about White, Koko said zat my sister is somezing 'umans call 'Bipolar'." Rock shrugged. "She is more purple zan I am, and she's not like me about it eizzer."

"Your mom mentioned that she's got pink eyes, but her own eyes are red and blue. So that leads me to think that White was just born the way she is; a purple-brained, pink eyed, over-ambitious bitch." Jonah smirked slightly, earning a full smile from Rock. "So, is that why you're so bummed out? I mean, sure, first Christmas and all, so you don't get what's the big deal. But I might have something in mind that might cheer you up a bit."

"And vat vould zat be?" Rock's eyes narrowed, and a sly smirk crept onto her face, her interest clearly piqued.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out the hard way." Jonah winked, already blocking her attempt at finding the details in his memories.

* * *

"How'd she take it?" Koko asked curiously.

"She's interested, I just haven't given her the whole picture. I want it to be a surprise for her." Jonah replied, taking a deep breath as they began to practice another round of the Winter Dance from Otherworld seasonal festival tradition, the memory of the routine given to them by Empress herself after meeting with her in London to discuss White at the time.

Chariot and Dead Master were also watching, both amused by the sight of their adoptive mother teaching their brother how to do the dance that they themselves could both literally perform while blindfolded.

"So you think she'll remember how to do the dance? She did vanish for three years, and now she's here, so..." Dead Master shrugged awkwardly. "Lucky that the dance just needs a slower beat for the music, we don't have time to prepare or find a song from back home."

"And it's a simple dance. I'll bet that little side thing Jonah came up with for them will be perfect. I'd dance alongside them if it wasn't being treated like a date."

"No!" Dead Master gawked, unaware of that last detail. "You mean this is all just a date for them?!"

"Wake up and join us in the land of the living once in a while, necro-chick. Might learn a few things." Chariot teased Dead Master with a laugh as Koko and Jonah finished the dance routine.

"Well done, Jonah. I think you've got the hang of it now." Koko smiled warmly at him. "Now then, I can handle the rest, you just need to sweet talk Rock into a dress for tonight, then we can get this show on the road, 'kay?"

"Shouldn't be too hard for me to pull it off." Jonah knew his reply was laden with innuendo and more than just a little cheekiness as he nodded and went back to the house from the firing range, which was where they had been practicing the dance away from Rock's razor sharp gaze.

* * *

"You're up to somezing, aren't you?" Rock could read between the lines in just about anything she was involved in, and Jonah's request to go out together for the evening, Christmas Eve to be precise, was clearly more than just an innocent little date.

"I might be." Jonah chuckled slightly, knowing he was being coy. "Christmas Eve isn't just the tradition of gifts and family, y'know. It's romantic too. There's plenty of examples I could give, but that might ruin my surprise for you."

"You're being a tease." Rock was annoyed at the little games, but still excited at the same time.

"Is it working?" Jonah couldn't help it now. He knew he'd gotten her hooked, so she gently kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck for a moment before replying to his question.

"Does zat answer your question? I'll play along vizz zis date of yours." Rock giggled slightly before kissing him again. "Only if you play mine aftervards. Deal?"

"You're on." Jonah grinned, wasting no more time in talking and pulled her against his chest to continue making out with her.

* * *

Rock felt all eyes on her the moment she entered the extravagant ballroom in her dress, with Jonah waiting for her in his own suit. She never really had this sort of attention back at the Palace, but for some reason she felt an achingly familiar feeling, as if she'd experienced this before... but with someone else, in another time...

Collecting herself, Rock approached Jonah to see that he'd tamed his silver hair, likely with assistance from Koko or Lehm. The entire time he hadn't stopped smiling at her, nor had he taken his eyes off her either. The fact that he only had eyes for her, while the rest of the room were whispering and leaning to their neighbours while they stared at her, was making her feel even more special about the whole event.

"Shall we?" Jonah took a moment to try and formulate the simple question, too busy soaking in the sight of her in a black dress trimmed with silver. And her hair, topped by a little tiara, was done up in a beautiful bun that exposed her neck, which had her adapter and her choker necklace on full display.

"Vun question... Did Koko 'ave a 'and in all ze arrangements?" Rock asked as she lightly took his hand with long forgotten regal elegance as they went into the ballroom now that the stares and whispers were dying down.

"She's here, of course." Jonah smiled, then asked. "Shall we dance, or get something to drink first?"

"Oh, vat kind of drink?" Rock didn't waste a second before her sultry teasing tone and a sly smirk took effect. "And 'ere I zought zat I vas ze vun vizz ze sneaky plan for later..."

"Oh believe me... I have my own as well." Jonah winked at her as they caught sight of Koko, Valmet, Chariot and Lehm waiting for them at a table with two vacant seats. Of course they were all dressed for the event as well, watching them approach with little smirks on their faces that contrasted with the jealous, scathing stares of the other girls that they were passing and the stunned stares from some of the guys.

"Now that you two have stolen the show, I neglected to at least give you some context to this whole gala." Koko smiled warmly as the two of them sat in their seats. "Long version or the short one?"

" _Short_." Both of them replied at the same time.

"Rich kids event. While their parents are talking business, they get to dance and unwind for a bit. And yes, there are a couple arms dealers in the mix, and yes, I was invited this year after rumours got out that I have y'know... five children. Damn tabloids were pretty quick to notice that you two look like me more than the girls, so at least our cover story is still standing firm."

"Zat explains ze armed guards at ze entrances to ze 'all." Rock glanced over at one of the doors, where two bodyguards stood with suits and sunglasses. Their experience on firearms gave away the faint hint of shoulder holsters under the guards suits. "So, mom..." Rock's gaze returned to Koko as one eyebrow and one side of her mouth started to rise into a cocky smirk. "'ow about you stop 'iding and join us?"

"Koko was going to at least inform you of my presence herself, my dear." Empress materialized at the table right behind Koko and Lehm. Of course seated with her was Black Gold Saw, Beast - very surprisingly without her cyan crown or eye flame - and Hex, all in dresses, while Kaspar was in a crisp suit beside his Linked partner's towering height. "You look beautiful." She smiled warmly at her youngest daughter.

"Correct me if I'm wrong... but don't you have that permanent eye fire, Beast?" Jonah asked, then noted that aside from Empress' heterochromatic eyes and Black Gold Saw's towering height, they all appeared to be completely... normal.

"Mother's magic is concealing it. It's still here. Same spell that they're both using to conceal their horns." Beast replied, vaguely indicating her own face and glancing at the other two mages for a moment.

"Horns?" Lehm asked, so Chariot spoke up.

"Mages grow horns as they develop their magic. My tiara, believe it or not, are my horns. I can't remove them from my head, but I can make it ethereal, like they're doing right now."

"That explains why Dead Master's are tiny, she did say she's still a novice." Koko nodded in understanding. "Now then... if you kids want to go wander around, go ahead. Just remember to come back here for when the dance is paused for the dinner." She then glanced at Chariot. "And only one alcoholic drink for you, deal?"

"Sure thing. Have fun with the other dealers." Chariot nodded, then joined her siblings and Beast in excusing themselves from the table, only for Beast herself to tap her arm as Jonah and Rock wandered off to socialize - or more than likely taunt and mock - with the other aristocratic teenagers.

"As you are likely aware, I have no partner for this evening, I was... thinking that it'd be... um... mutually beneficial to enact a... partnership facade for the evening."

Chariot's face broke into a bright smile at the oddly cute way that Beast made her business-like request to be her 'date' for the night.

"I sleep with your Royal Guard Captain, just so you know. You were _almost_ as cute as her..." Chariot held out her hand with that same sweet smile. "I'd be glad to be of service to you for this evening, my Princess."

* * *

Not even ten minutes later, Rock and Jonah were approached by a couple of the other teens, both only standing a few feet apart as they respective groups of girls and boys began to talk to them.

The girls around Jonah immediately started flirting with him, batting their eyelashes and giggling at him, while occasionally whispering into each other's ear and giggling even more at his stoic responses to their questions and compliments.

"I heard you're Jonah Heckmatyar, right? Must be _so_ hard being the only boy in the family." One girl idly caressed his upper arm with the back of her hand, stepping closer to him with a small smile on her face.

"Not really." Jonah replied, barely even looking at her as he watched the dance floor's movements.

"I'll bet it's really _frustrating_ at times, hm? Four sisters and all." She wasn't giving up with her flirting, but at least she withdrew her hand from his arm.

Jonah turned his head to stare her right in the face, his tone deadpan and his expression a subtly challenging curiosity. "And why would having sisters frustrate me?"

The other girls exchanged excited glances, since - to them at least - she had just gotten his full attention. And of course she herself arched an eyebrow as she replied to his question.

"I mean, you must feel so _lonely_ , no guys to... _unwind_ with, to... reinstate your masculinity, I mean, you are surrounded by sisters, after all. You must certainly need some... _alone time_ , right?"

For a few seconds, Jonah's unwavering stare and silence hung in the air between them... and then he smirked at her.

"You don't need an audience... for what you're trying to ask me." Jonah's tone and that little smirk on his face instantly made the girls gawk, and the group's little leader was briefly stunned as she realized that he'd noticed what she was asking the whole time. "And the answer's no. I am here on a date with my partner, so I expect you to respect that fact."

"Oh? And yet you're standing here alone." The girl challenged, failing to notice Jonah's eyes crinkle with his faint smirk.

"If zat's 'ow you perceive zings." Rock lovingly turned Jonah's head towards herself by caressing her long silk gloved fingertips against his cheek scar, which quickly followed with a kiss and a giggle. "You are sorely mistaken."

The group of boys that had been gathered around her mere moments before turned to catch the kiss, while the girls scowled at her comment. Jonah knew what she did to get out of the circle of boys - her teleport-like dash of speed - and smiled at her as he tucked his curled index finger under her chin and started speaking in Old Speak.

"I can't tell if you're being cheeky, cute or sassy right now, but I like it."

"Oh? I should be trying 'arder." Rock gave him another kiss, her eyes glinting purple for a moment before they turned to the gathered teens around them, so she switched back to English. "Ve 'ave an audience. _Shame_. I vas enjoying myself. Shall ve?"

"As you wish, my Princess." Jonah accepted her hand as they smoothly left the teens that had been annoyingly amusing them for the past few minutes. Now that they'd proven their worth as entertainment, the Linked pair easily moved onto the dance floor and fell into sync with the other waltzing couples. They even caught a glimpse of Chariot dancing with Beast, smirking at the clever idea for them to pair up like that.

* * *

"So, anything new on your end of things, Empress?" Koko asked, since the adults were now seated at the same table to talk together. It was after dinner had concluded, and the teens went back to enjoying themselves until the event ended some time after midnight.

"As of now, I have confirmed that another Portal Sphere has opened here on Earth. Hex and Bookman managed to give the location it appeared in. Ontario, Canada. A witness caught sight of it through a snowstorm, but it and whoever it deposited were long gone by the time he got close enough to investigate." Empress explained. "And the snowstorm blew away any tracks too."

"You think it's Lady White. don't you?" Black Gold Saw asked, sipping a glass of champagne.

"I know it's possible, but she'd have at least sent some sort of method of scouting before she went through. If she IS there, she'd made an impulsive move." Empress sighed. "Myself and Beast arrived in the Oval Office of the White House when we arrived. And I've gathered that Rock arrived in your Belgian hotel room at the time... the bathroom, if I do recall?"

Koko nodded. "Dead Master was in an alley in London. Strength was in the middle of my cargo ship's top deck while we were in open ocean. Chariot's was in Tokyo, she didn't say exactly where."

"So what's the CIA got to say on all of this?" Lehm asked Hex, who craned her neck since he was in her blindspot.

"The whole operation's off-record, even by our standards. Bookman's aware that we're collaborating on this whole deal, but he's made it absolutely clear that Undershaft is still ongoing. Won't listen to us trying to call it all off."

"That's fine. Leave him to his antics. Right now we need to gather intel on whoever was spit out by that Portal Sphere in Canada." Koko waved her hand dismissively. "No evidence was left behind, aside from the witness seeing the Portal itself and arrived too late. Right?"

"Not even magical energy. I arrived on-site to check for just that, not even I found anything. Which leads me to believe it's either a warrior, or a dud Portal entirely."

"Doubtful." Black Gold Saw shook her head. "Only the caster can cancel a Portal Sphere prematurely. Anyone sent through will return to the original Portal's location."

"So boss, what's the percentage chance it's White herself?" Lehm asked Koko, who hummed in thought for a moment.

"More than 50%, for sure." Koko sighed, pressing her index and middle fingers against her temple for a moment. "Something tells me that she's able to make use of her impulsive mistake..."

"So what's the plan?" Kaspar spoke up, tapping his index finger against his cheek.

"For now, we enjoy our evening. Once we garner new evidence, we'll convene again to consider our options." Empress let out a slow exhale through her nose for a moment. "Hex and I will do what we can from Virginia, Kaspar and Black Gold Saw keep a low profile for now, while Koko and the girls try to... stand out, just in case it IS my oldest daughter that's in Canada right now."

"You think she'll go for Rock, right?" Valmet asked, and Empress nodded.

"They hated each other."

"Should we be worried, or will she try another dirty trick like the cursed doorknob?" Koko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"More than likely she'll be running recon, like us." Hex replied. "But she's got magic on her side, so I wouldn't put it past her to attempt more interference on you guys when she does find out where you are."

"I have an idea." Kaspar held up his tapping finger for a moment, then leaned forward. "Same methods you had the CIA use to find Rock herself. But with White instead."

"That would work, we'd need to speak with Canadian intelligence, of course." Hex nodded. "So... is that all?"

"For now, yes. You two are more than welcome to go dance. Go enjoy yourselves." Koko nodded, waving her hand casually.

"Shall we, my Queen?" Hex, in a surprising display of teasing humour, held out her hand for Empress to join her for a dance just as the current song was coming to an end.

"You? _Dance_? This oughta be good." Empress chuckled as she accepted the invitation. Likewise, Black Gold Saw and Kaspar smirked at the jab as they also went for a dance of their own.

Valmet looked over at Koko hopefully, but Koko held up one finger. "Next song. I promise."

Lehm chuckled dryly, but said nothing.

* * *

As the dance came to an end, Rock and Jonah spotted the respective pairings finishing their own dances at the same time, both of them smirking as they watched Koko and Valmet standing up while the others went back to their table.

"Vanna run off and 'ave some fun?" Rock arched her eyebrow twice, accompanied by a coy smile and seductive eyes.

"And how do you plan to get me past the guards at the doors? I know you can just do your little flicker dash, but I'm not that fast."

"I never said ve'd need to get past _zem_." Rock chuckled. "Ze real problem is trying to get past Koko and my muzzer."

"Got a plan?" Jonah glanced of to the side, watching Koko and Valmet begin their dance as the next song began to play.

"I've got an idea, fifty pounds in cash, and more zan enough audacity to try it."

"Gonna fill me in?" Jonah was tempted, for sure.

"Meet me by ze fountain out front in five minutes." Rock winked at him, her eyes full on glowing purple as she did so.

With that, they separated and vanished from sight. Lehm, who was still seated at their table, felt a tap at his shoulder, so he turned and saw nothing on either side, only to catch sight of a folded note in front of him. Somehow he knew who wrote it before he even touched it... and he was right.

" _I've got fifty pounds on me, in cash. Hint hint. You saw us step outside. Don't tell either of them where. You know who I'm talking about. ~ Princess_."

"This oughta be good." Lehm chuckled and slid the note from Rock into his suit jacket. "And here I thought Chiquita was hard to deal with..."

* * *

"Nicely done." Jonah was already waiting for her outside at the fountain when she flickered back into sight and took a few steadying steps to regain her equilibrium after her extreme speed.

"Now zat ve're alone, I 'ave somezing for you." Rock had her clutch purse in one hand, the other was beckoning him forward with a curled finger.

"Same." Jonah smirked, patting his chest to indicate that it was inside his suit jacket's inner pocket. "Can I have a kiss?"

"Do you even 'ave to ask?" Rock chuckled before giving him just that, a warm, loving kiss as she linked her arms around the back of his neck, acutely aware of the light snowfall beginning at that very moment, caressing her bare shoulders and neck with tingling chills before rapidly melting away.

"I dunno... Do I?" Jonah asked, reaching into his suit jacket to reveal a small jewelry box. "Turn around."

Rock's eyes widened in surprise, but she did turn around, facing the massive Christmas tree that stood opposite to the fountain. She saw the glint of gold pass down and felt the weight against the dip of her throat, followed by the little click of Jonah connecting the clasp behind her.

Rock was speechless, so she immediately spun around and lifted the heart-shaped locket up into her view, immediately gasping at the small, ornate J+R engraved into the surface in elegant cursive.

"My turn~!" Rock finally managed to find her voice after grabbing Jonah's face to pull him in for another kiss. "'old still."

With a small nod, Jonah waited for her to do the same for his neck, feeling the small thud against his chest as she connected the clasp and backed up two full paces, blushing vividly.

Without taking his eyes off her, Jonah reached up to retrieve the necklace, noting the sturdy, masculine gold chain it hung from until he turned his gaze to find two matching charms; a thick, but blank dogtag, and a five-point star, which brought out a warm smile on his face.

"I am yours." Jonah beckoned her forward with that same warm smile on his face.

"As am I." Rock linked her wrists at the back of his neck again, kissing him immediately, only to hear a booming clock tower began to toll midnight.

"Merry Christmas... Princess Black Rock Shooter." Jonah tilted her chin up to stare into her eyes with a special smile that he reserved just for her. Not even Koko had seen that special smile.

It was only for her.


	46. Chapter 46

**A/N: Thanks to the respective timelines, I am able to squeeze in one last Tobias cameo before things on his timeline prevent him from making anymore appearances. In this story, it is now mid-January. Also of note, this chapter begins one last plot arc for this story, then it will be the finale arc. Unlike Silence (the story that Tobias is coming from specifically) this story isn't going to drag on for forever and a day. As of writing this paragraph, I estimate that Insanity will have 12 - 15 more chapters, plus the extra long finale chapter itself, plus a single post-finale chapter to finish things off.**

* * *

"So... I have a surprise prepared for you, Jonah." Koko spoke up during the tail end of breakfast with a smile directed at the birthday boy. "As luck has it, Tobias is back in London, even more lucky is that he has the entire day free between his work meetings for the whole trip. So you and him are spending the day together, as my main gift for you. And I'm sure a certain Princess is gonna want you all for herself at some point tonight." Koko teased as Rock smiled and nodded her head, unable to speak since her adapter was presently charging upstairs.

"What time's he gonna be here?" Jonah asked, since he and the Russian soldier got along well as it was, so he didn't have any objections to the surprise collaboration gift.

"He said he'd be here in about..." Koko checked her watch. "Three and a half hours."

Rock's eyes visibly glinted with excitement as they also glowed very purple, which nobody failed to notice and they all laughed at. They knew what she was thinking about, it wasn't exactly a secret anymore that the two of them were frequently intimate together.

"Did he say if we'd be doing anything in particular?" Jonah asked, giving Rock an amused sidelong glance with an accompanying smirk at the excite gleam in her glowing eyes.

"He mentioned he'd take you out for lunch, and he'd be buying you two gifts." Koko nodded slightly. "Now, before a certain someone gets too excited, I'd suggest heading upstairs. And Rock... You know where I put it." She added the last part with a wink at Rock when she turned towards her at the sound of her name.

With a nod, Rock traced her finger along the underside of Jonah's jaw, garnering his attention to her as she coyly arched her eyebrows with a smirk that was full of promises as they quickly went upstairs and closed their bedroom door.

Rock quickly produce her phone and started rapidly tapping at the screen to write him a quick message, shoving it into his hand for a moment as she patted her nearby longcoat's pocket to confirm whatever Koko had given to her. She seemed satisfied as she spun back around as Jonah read her note.

 _'I have a surprise planned for you for tonight, but right now I'm purple. Let me get us started, alright?'_

"Now I'm tempted to start teasing you until you can't even see straight." Jonah slid her phone onto their desk with a smirk, already enjoying the sight of her already pulling her tank top off.

She flipped him off as she tossed her shirt aside, her shorts following in quick order. But Jonah wasn't staying idle either, so he wasted no time either, leaving them both in just their gold necklaces.

They stared lovingly into each other's eyes, gently kissing each other until Rock chuckled into their kiss as she shoved him back into their desk chair and smiled and fondled his semi-hard shaft with one hand, the other running her fingers through his hair, her nose less than half a centimeter from his.

"Come closer, I dare you." Jonah taunted, a smirk on his face as she cheekily licked the tip of his nose with the tip of her tongue.

' _You first_.' She mouthed her Silenced reply knowing he could lip read.

* * *

"Happy birthday Jonah." Tobias smiled at Jonah coming down the stairs, noting that he was tucking his chain into his shirt collar as he descended to greet the one-eyed soldier.

"Burned yourself again?" Jonah didn't fail to notice that the upper half of Tobias' face burn looked like he'd been burned again.

"Fuel tank blew up in my face." Tobias nodded. "Nice chain."

"Blake got it for me, Christmas gift." Jonah replied. "Ready to go?"

"My car's out front. Whenever you're ready, I'll be out front." Tobias nodded, then stepped back outside as Jonah grabbed his jacket.

"Catch you later." Rock blew him a kiss from the top of the stairs as he was leaving, and he gave her a wink in reply before sitting beside Tobias in the rental sedan.

"So, got anything in particular you want to do today?" Tobias asked as he put the car into gear and headed for London.

"I figured I'd surprise myself. Nothing's coming to mind just yet." Jonah shrugged.

"Sounds like a plan as it is." Tobias nodded with a smile.

* * *

Rock watched the pair leaving with a smirk, then heard the sound of Koko's heeled shoes approaching behind her, and felt her rest her arm onto her shoulder a moment later.

"Last chance. It's gonna hurt." Koko tilted her head to ask one last time, even though she knew that Rock wasn't going to back down from something she wanted, even if it would hurt.

"I regenerate, remember?" Rock chuckled. "I vant zis, mom."

"Alright, we're leave with Valmet in about an hour, I'm just finishing up a couple things for our contract next week."

* * *

"Aren't you cold?" Jonah noticed that Tobias wasn't wearing a coat, just his all black suit. They were walking to a coffee shop, and Tobias' lack of outerwear was occasionally drawing glances from other pedestrians.

"I'm Russian. This is nothing." Tobias chuckled. "But my girlfriend back in the States would be complaining, for sure."

"She doesn't like the cold?" Jonah smiled slightly.

"She's a 'warm fireplace and good book' kinda girl." Tobias nodded, his gaze flicking to **YOU** during his Fourth Wall reference. "Her name's Rize."

"Got a picture of her?" Jonah asked curiously.

"I'll show you inside." Tobias nodded again as they went into the coffee shop and sat at one of the small tables. Of course he pulled his phone from inside his suit jacket, inside of which Jonah caught a glimpse of Tobias' pistol under his arm, and tapped at it a few times before showing Jonah the purple-haired girl with red contact lenses behind her red framed glasses.

Of course Jonah smiled at the colours she chose, but as Tobias withdrew his phone, he noticed that Tobias' hand bore a tattoo of an armoured knight on horseback. "Cool knight."

"It's bigger than you think." Tobias smirked, then tilted his head over slightly to reveal the wisps of what appeared to be smoke along the side of his neck. "My entire right arm. Fantasy design, there's a dragon on my shoulder, the wings go across my chest and shoulder blade. Rest of my arm is a landscape between the two of them."

"It's cool." Jonah replied, but said nothing as their server came over to take their coffee orders.

"Want one?" Tobias asked after the server had left to fill their orders. Jonah raised an eyebrow for a moment. "Tattoo. I did tell your mother I'd get you two gifts. Never said there were restrictions."

"I think I have a design in mind, sure." Jonah appreciated Tobias' generosity. "Thanks."

"I'll check for a good local artist." Tobias spun his phone around and began tapping at the screen. A few moments later, his phone vibrated, which made Jonah raise an eyebrow.

"I thought you were searching online."

"I'm actually close friends with the artist that did my arm. She's one of the top tattoo artists in North America." Tobias replied. "Serenity Cora Avalise." His phone buzzed again, and he smiled before sliding it back into his suit jacket. "She gave me the artist's studio address, we can go after our coffee."

"No appointment?" Jonah asked, just as their server came back with their coffees.

"She called it a 'professional favour', but I get the feeling she knows the woman... _Personally_."

"Personally?" Jonah knew the implications of the added word.

Tobias just smirked and took a sip of his coffee without a word.

* * *

"Champion. You did good, lad." She finished up Jonah's given design in record time, smiling at how well he'd handled the pain. "You let Sere know I say hey, yeah?" She turned to Tobias, whom she could easily see bore Serenity's handiwork.

"Absolutely." Tobias nodded and smiled as Jonah shook her hand. "I made it clear to her that I'd be paying full price though."

"Very well, I'll ring it up proper." She peeled off her gloves and moved over for Jonah to put his shirt back on, his cluster of several white five-point stars that formed his tattoo now adorning his chest in boldly black-outlining to contain the white ink, making it sharply contrast with his darker complexion. "Excellent timing too, I've got another client coming in ten minutes."

"Glad you could accommodate us." Tobias paid in cash, and the two of them returned to his rental car to consider where they'd be going next. "Next stop?" He asked as he started the engine.

"Doesn't hurt too bad, I think we could go to a shooting range for a bit, since Koko's probably planning a surprise party back at home." Jonah shrugged. "I saw your gun under your arm earlier."

"I have two." Tobias chuckled. "H&K VP9's. I nicknamed them The Twins." He backed out of the parking space and tapped the car's GPS' voice command button, then spoke in Russian for a moment to set the destination route. Jonah raised an eyebrow, and Tobias smirked for a moment before following the route. "I asked the rental company for a GPS model with voice commands, and they obviously picked up where I'm actually from by my accent."

"How many languages do you speak?" Jonah asked curiously.

"Just the two. Rize's Japanese, so I'm probably going to learn it at some point. And the same in reverse, I can tell she's picking up on my Russian at times. And yourself?"

"I speak two." Jonah replied. "Learning bits and pieces when we travel with Koko. She speaks nine or ten, I think. Russian for sure, and Japanese."

"That's impressive." Tobias smiled for a moment. "Now, I couldn't help noticing that Blake has an Umbrella VT6 speech adapter. Mind if I ask what happened to her?"

"She has a burn on the back part of her tongue. She got captured a while back, and got tortured until Koko sent the rest of us in to get her back." Jonah replied, using the cover story that went alongside Rock's medical documents related to her adapter.

Tobias swore under his breath in Russian before speaking in English. "Don't I know _that_ feeling..."

* * *

"Right love, top off and lay on the table. This'll take a while, so if it hurts too bad just let me know, right?"

Rock nodded as she peeled off her tank top and bra and laid on the table as directed. She then pointed at her adapter before speaking. "Voice adapter, it's a long story. I am mute vizzout it."

"Umbrella tech, I see. Good company them." The tattoo artist nodded in understanding before beginning the preparations for Rock's new tattoo while Koko and Valmet watched from nearby, both smirking knowingly.

* * *

At the shooting range, Tobias spoke to the staff briefly and seemed to present them with a gun license from the States, which lead to him signing a few forms before the staff asked that he present The Twins for inspection. So he withdrew them from inside his suit, unloaded them, and handed them to the in-staff gunsmith, who immediately commented on the high performance components.

"Bloody hell these are some top end pieces. They seem alright to me, how many rounds are those magazines rated for?"

"Fifteen, chambered for nine mil." Tobias replied.

"And you have all the relevant papers too, no criminal record here or in the US. So, I say they're approved for use on the range. Would you like to purchase ammunition for them?"

"Of course." Tobias nodded, and Jonah inwardly felt relieved that he'd left his Browning back at home.

Shortly after that, they were both wearing hearing and eye protection and standing in the range, each holding one Twin. A box of ammunition was at the ready for them both to use, and Jonah smiled at Tobias for a moment.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today, and for letting me use your gun."

"No problem. Happy birthday, Jonah." Tobias nodded at him to go ahead with using his Twin, and both of them started firing with obvious experience to the staff and other patrons watching from the other side of the bulletproof glass behind them.

* * *

"Two in a row, I'm on a roll today!" The tattoo artist finished with Rock's back tattoo - a pair of anatomically correct wings on her shoulder blades and upper arms plus a similarly designed fan of feathers going across lower back - and smiled at her second young client's high pain tolerance. "Last lad I had come in handled the pain just as good as you did, lass."

"Oh, it 'urt, just not as much as I zought it vould." Rock smiled, thankful that Koko had bribed the artist to not say anything about her blue blood.

"And I saw nothing strange." She nodded pointedly at Koko, who smiled and nodded once as she produced her money to pay for the tattoo that now proudly adorned almost half of Rock's back. "Pleasure doing business, ladies."

* * *

That evening, Tobias dropped Jonah off at home, the pair sharing a fist bump before Tobias shook Koko's hand and they shared a quick word to each other in Russian before Tobias nodded at Jonah with a smile before leaving them to celebrate together.

After dinner, cake and gifts, Jonah noticed an out-of-place shadow under the back of Rock's hair, and knew right away that it was something she was trying to hide - her hair wasn't even in her usual long pigtails, but instead hung freely down her back and she was wearing one of his 'borrowed' hoodies to keep warm.

"So that surprises that you mentioned this morning..." Jonah slid up behind her back while she was busy washing the dishes from dinner in the sink. "I've got one for you too." He added by kissing the side of her neck with a smile, his arms snaking around her waist to gently embrace her, cheek to cheek.

"Oh? Now should I be ze vun teasing you until you can't see straight?" Rock giggled. "Not zat I can't easily do zat to you already..."

"Oh? Is that so?" Jonah surprised her by suddenly squeezing one of her ass cheeks, earning a cute squeal of surprise that was quickly followed by a throaty giggle, once again cut off by them sharing a loving kiss with a fluidly synchronized transition that only a Lifelink could provide.

"That was cute and all, but take it upstairs so I can finish those dishes, alright?" Koko breezed into the kitchen and shooed them apart for a moment to take over with the dishes that Rock had been distracted from finishing.

"But cool granite feels great on ze buttcheeks." Rock quipped with a cheeky smirk on her face.

"You assume I don't know that already." Koko winked right back, and the two of them remembered the bondage conversation from the week before Christmas. "Feels even better at night in the summer."

"Kinky." Jonah chuckled, his eyes glinting mischievously as he locked eyes with Rock for a moment, tilting his head to indicate that they go upstairs.

"Try it out, just don't leave a mess for anyone to find in the morning. Deal?" Koko knew better than to waste the opening to tease them one last time before they left the kitchen.

"Deal." Rock and Jonah replied at the same time before they whisked each other up the stairs and into their room, closing the door with a firm thud.

Taking advantage of her agility, Rock boldly pulled Jonah's arms down to his sides and pinned them in place with her own, flattening herself against his chest to tilt her head back and cockily smirk up at his own challenging grin.

"Hi there." Jonah's eyes glinted with his teasing tone.

"You're getting too tall." Rock chuckled as she chastised him, but nuzzled her face into his chest, easily flattening her ear over his heart. "Don't get any taller, I von't be able to enjoy doing zis if I can't reach it."

"Is that so?" Jonah kissed the top of her head, to which she wrapped her arms around his ribs, giving him the opening he needed. He used his chance to suddenly lift her up by the back of her thighs, making her gasp in shock for a moment and instinctively link her ankles and wrists behind his back to stop herself from falling. "Not if I have anything to say about that." He grinned at her, now at eye level to each other, earning a kiss and a throaty, very pleased hum, heavily lidded, seductive eyes and her full blown glowing purple gaze now laden with approval. "Better?"

"Mmmmmm... I like ze view from up 'ere." Rock replied with a smile forming on her face. "So... 'ow about ve get to zose surprises now?"

"You first." Jonah chuckled, easily carrying her lithe form across their room to lower her onto their bed.

"Close your eyes." Rock quickly stood up and made absolutely sure that he could see what she was doing as she dragged off Jonah's hoodie that she totally stole for herself. She had planned ahead and didn't wear a shirt nor a bra under the hoodie, and immediately turned on her toes is a pirouette, lacing her fingers together against the back of her neck. She used that motion to drape her long black hair over her exposed chest, and coyly peered over her shoulder with a small whistle to let him know he could open his eyes now.

When Jonah opened his eyes, he was silent for a moment, taking in the sight being presented to him, then he smiled at her adorably expectant gaze and said the first thing that came to mind.

"My Princess has _ascended_ to become my Angel."


	47. Chapter 47

**A/N: Timeline reminder, it is now March Break in the story, and Rock's birthday is on March 20th, which I stated earlier in the story as "the first of spring" but forgot to place an actual date to the claim. So after a check of my calendar, I have made it officially the 20th of March.**

* * *

"... And that's just about everything. Sign here please." Koko presented the contract, which their client took and signed with fluid efficiency, handing the page back before turning on her heel to head back. Only to narrow her eyes and pause in her tracks, spotting right away that one of the many guards was leaning his forearm on the wall just above Rock's head, clearly chatting her up and oblivious to the fact that she wasn't even remotely interested in his attempts.

"C'mon, chica, no need to be so cold. Why you gotta be that way?" The young guy, barely out of his teens, was clearly of Latin descent, his accent and choice of slang made it easy to trace.

"Vy do you 'ave to be so dense?" Rock countered, rolling her eyes.

"Hey now, no need to be a bitch." He still wasn't taking the hint, but clearly didn't like what she'd said, a faint flicker of a frown crossing his cocky smirk for a tiny moment.

"You call me a bitch like it's a bad zing." Rock leveled a steely glare at him now. "You 'ave sree seconds to remove your 'and and get out of my vay before I remove zat 'and _for you_."

Koko watched warily, because even the most dense of womanizers would get the hint when threatened with bodily harm like that. She glanced to the side of the wall, right at the edge of the rubbled stone, and instantly noticed a certain hoodie-clad shoulder listening to the nosediving attempt at getting lucky.

"Ooooh, _feisty_!" The guy grinned, thinking completely opposite to the comment's intent. "I like that fiery side of you, chica. Totally hot..."

BLAM!

With a long, slow exhale out of her nose, Rock's eye flame was blazing bright blue as she lowered her custom Colt from where his arm had just been on the wall, since she'd shot right through his wrist without looking away from his stupid face.

"'ot enough for you now?" Rock stomped her heel onto his injured hand, unconcerned by the assault rifles being hurriedly directed at her for the unexpected gunshot. "Stupid prick."

"Eddy! What did you do _this time_?!" Koko's client hurried to signal that the soldiers stand down, as was Koko with a mere shake of her head at her own crew.

"SHE SHOT ME!" The young guy clutched his arm.

"What did _you_ do to her, Eddy?" The client demanded more forcefully, not concerned about his injury.

"I talked to her!"

"Young lady, what did he say to you that upset you like that?" The client asked calmly, and Rock slid her custom Colt back into her holster as her eye died down to normal.

"Zis child vouldn't listen ven I said to leave me alone, so I gave 'im a varning to stop, and 'e didn't. So I shot 'im." Rock explained without even so much as a glance at Eddy at her feet. "'ow old is 'e?"

"How old are _you_?" The client countered, noting her small stature in particular hinted at her age more than her features.

"I'm turning sixteen in less zan a veek." Rock replied.

"Eddy, you've given me enough grief as it is, but now you do this?" The client sighed, one hand on their forehead. "Young lady, you get ten seconds to do whatever you want to him... but you must let him live. Deal?"

Rock's face split into a sadistic grin. "Is zat an early birzzday gift?"

"If you want, sure." They nodded, and she turned her gaze down to Eddy and her eyes immediately turned purple.

"' _appy birzzday to me_..."

* * *

"You must be joking..." White tossed the folder of documents onto the desk she was seated behind, glaring at the Guardsman that delivered the documents for her. "Stupid Americans."

"Have I erred, Mistress?" The Guardsman, one of her personal elite legion of handpicked soldiers, was in full armour and had removed his helmet to kneel before her.

"No, Guardsman... This information displeases me, is all." White sighed briefly. "Has Guardsman Jarlon Silver returned from his mission?"

"No, Mistress. Not to my knowledge."

"Have the first available mage get in contact with him as soon as they're fully awake."

"Understood, Mistress. I shall relay this at once." The Guardsman stood again and put his helmet back onto his head, leaving White's office and following her commands.

"So what's the report say that pissed you off so much?" Ryan asked from beside the door, the young human man that she'd Charmed after she'd arrived in Canada - and promptly despised the cold climate, heading for Nevada, bringing Ryan along with her for convenience with humans and Earth's unfathomable world.

"My sister's been located in outdated intel. The damn FBI organization that provided this clearly failed to consider that I wanted up-to-date information."

"How outdated is it?" Ryan smirked knowingly.

"October."

"Give it here." Ryan held out his hand, approaching her desk. She waved her hand and it easily glided into his hand, and he opened the folder to see the airport security camera image that showcased the youngest of White's sisters. "Hmmm..."

"You're human, what have myself and my mages missed?" White noted Ryan's eyes scanning the photograph at a rapid pace.

"I have something in mind... Most humans wouldn't even think of this." Ryan placed the open folder in front of her on the desk, pointing at her little sister in the picture. "That's her. Obviously. Look at who she's with." He slid his finger slightly to the white haired woman in a white business suit that Black Rock Shooter was clearly walking with in the terminal.

"I see a woman in white, with white hair." White noted after spinning the photo around to see it properly aligned.

"I know you've seen the woman in another place." Ryan commented, tapping the woman's head on the picture. "She's on the FBI's blacklist."

"Get to the point, Ryan." White glared at him pointedly.

"I saw her picture on a guy's computer screen when we were last at the FBI. Couldn't see her name, but that's not a problem right now." Ryan smirked. "Here's the point I'm getting at: Your sister is with this woman. In what context, i couldn't tell you. But when we find the woman, we find the girl."

"Shall I invade your mind to find that glimpse of the screen you mentioned?" White normally wouldn't have asked, but she considered Ryan valuable enough to garner at least some respect... sometimes.

"You're asking permission? That's new." Ryan chuckled, sitting on the edge of the desk and leaning forward with a cocky smirk on his face. "What's next? Gonna ask me for a kiss too?"

"Arrogant human." White scowled, her hand flashing out to grip his hair behind his ear and pulled his forehead against her own, immediately making him grunt in pain from both the initial impact and the mental invasion until she got what she wanted and shoved him into a standing position in front of the desk, right where the Guardsman had previously been kneeling. "Your eyesight is terrible, but I think the woman's first name is Koko."

"Don't remind me..." Ryan grumbled at the jab about his terrible eyesight. He wore glasses, of course, but hadn't been wearing them during the particular memory because he'd dropped them during their initial security clearance into the building and accidentally broke them.

"Heck... Ma..." White narrowed her eyes, clearly focusing on the mental sight of the computer that was from Ryan's poor-eyesight perspective at the time. "Heckmatyar. It's Heckmatyar... Koko Heckmatyar."

"Now, here's the next step to all this crap." Ryan produced his cellphone and tapped at the screen for a moment. "We Google her name... and the results are..." He waited for the search results to load in, then smirked. "Ah... she's the heir to a shipping and logistics company, HCLI."

"Shipping and logistics?" White, still showcasing a displeased expression on her face, asked as she leaned back in her chair, resting her jaw on her raised palm.

"They're a transportation company." Ryan sighed, closing the browser and pocketing his phone. "At least according to Google..."

"Go on..." White could at least tell that Ryan had finally gotten to his whole objective now that they knew who the woman accompanying her sister was.

"Order the FBI to provide you with intel on the woman, now that we know who she is and the name of the company itself." Ryan concluded, glancing at Koko in the picture on the desk. "If she's toting your sister around like that picture, I suspect they're using some sort of facade to throw off normal humans that get nosy about them."

"Would you consider this woman high priority, in that case?" White produced a pink sphere of light in her free hand for a brief moment, then dismissed it as a Guardsman entered the office with a deep bow. "Contact my usual representative in the FBI. Immediate communication is needed." She barely glanced at the armoured warrior, who bowed again and departed, closng the door behind himself before Ryan answered her initial question.

"From what I can see in this picture, she's wearing a designer suit, strong, confident stride in her walk, and she doesn't seem to be carrying luggage, so that may hint that she's an experienced traveller. This image was taken at an airport, after all. And your sister's pretty relaxed as well, so the phobia of heights that you guys all have back home must be at least conqeured for her."

"Meaning?" White's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Koko's wealthy, and she travels with enough frequency that would lead me to believe that your sister's involved as part of their facade that I mentioned." Ryan explained. "So I think... Koko and your sister's facade they use is that she's Koko's daughter."

"Hmmm... My previous attempts at learning things gave me very little, but what little I do know does fit in with that theory... But what about her Lifelinked partner, that Jonah boy...?" White muttered under her breath in Old Speak, which Ryan could not understand, waiting out her mumbling patiently until she looked back up at him. "Guardsman."

In an instant the warrior was back in the door, bowing his head at the summons.

"Have another mage sent to me immediately after they awaken. I have a task for them."


	48. Chapter 48

Rock groaned in her sleep, feeling the sting of the morning sunlight against her eyelids. She buried her face into the blankets, which made her pause for a moment, slowly realizing that Jonah wasn't in their bed... But her half-asleep mind at least confirmed to her that he was still in the bedroom.

"Mmmm..." She groaned, then sighed, failing to cling to her remaining slumber as she rapidly came to full awakedness.

With her eyes still closed, she stretched her back, very cat-like, groaning with the tension in her muscles leaving her frame. She let out another sigh, this time one of relief as she lifted her knees by sliding her feet along the bed, only to gasp in surprise when she felt Jonah's hands almost immediately begin caressing the backs of her now exposed legs in her boyshorts and tank top pajama set.

Her eyes shot open in an instant, realizing that Jonah was smirking up at her, laying on his stomach, holding her legs as he moved closer to her, making her heart start beating with excitement at the obvious implications of his position between her knees.

"Good morning, my Angel." Jonah whispered in a low, very seductive tone as he kissed the flesh of her inner thigh without breaking their eye contact at all for even a split second. "Sleep alright?"

Rock nodded, feeling a bead of sweat trailing down her temple from her forehead, defiantly oblivious to her spectacular bedhead. She shivered as Jonah caressed her inner thighs with feather-light touches with the pads of his fingers, earning a slightly amused smile from Jonah.

"Are you cold? Here, let me fix that for you." Jonah boldly shifted closer to her, still unwavering in their intimate eye contact as he kissed the front of her boyshorts, right over her covered entrance.

She gasped at the surprising new methods, finding them more than pleasing and interesting. She moaned in approval, inviting him to continue with her eyes turning purple. He knew what that meant, no words were necessary. She liked it and wanted more.

For a few minutes, Jonah kept her shorts and panties firmly in place as he kissed her inner thighs and over her needy slit, making her squirm and groan, unable to muster the will to reach down and grab his head to guide him. She knew he'd get there... eventually.

* * *

Downstairs, Empress dismissed her dual red-blue eye flames as Koko and Hex both took a sip of their morning coffee across the table from her. She was quite amused by the morning antics of those two, for sure.

"She's awake now. They'll be... awhile." Empress spoke up, earning smirks from the other two women.

"Birthday girls here are always treated like royalty, so the fact she's actual royalty makes it even funnier." Hex commented as she lowered her cup. "Good thing we got here early, in that case."

"You could just bite the bullet and cockblock them yourself." Koko chuckled. "She might not like it immediately, mind you... But once we tell her what we're doing for her birthday, she _might_ forgive the interruption."

"Or... she throws me out the window and goes back to getting laid. That's another possibility." Hex shrugged slightly. "What d'you think, Empress?"

Empress glanced up at the ceiling, where she had used her red eye flame's ability to see through surfaces to check on the youngest two in their room. She hummed in thought for a moment, then returned her gaze to Hex as she replied. "If you have the gall, be my guest. They're still at their foreplay right now, might be your only opportunity to get away unscathed. She might throw something at you though."

With that, Hex put her coffee down and went upstairs, boldly opening their bedroom door without knocking and said. "Your mothers want to speak to..."

WHAM! SQUEECK!

Lacking depth perception, Hex took the sudden projectile full force, stumbling back a full length stride as the object turned out to be one of Roxy's chewtoys, dropping to the floor between her feet as she growled in frustration, despite knowing that something like that was almost guaranteed to occur.

"Do you even know what today is, you little shit?!" Hex demanded, only to notice that Rock's livid scowling face was without her voice adapter at the moment.

Rock didn't seem to care about it either, clearly mouthing the word 'Yes' dspite the lack of technology at her neck. 'My birthday' was what followed.

"Hex, enough... Come back down." Empress _and_ Koko spoke the same words at the same time from downstairs, leaving Hex to glare at the projectile that was already leaving a red mark on her cheek, then left the two angry teenagers to sort themselves out.

"If she's here... So is your mom." Jonah sighed, more for the interruption than the fact that Empress was waiting for them downstairs.

Rock chuckled slightly, rolling her eyes at Hex's attitude for her own fuck up. She quickly retrieved her adapter from the bedside table and unplugged the charger, putting it on her choker and then putting it on her neck, clicking it on and gently clearing her throat as it finished the brief boot-up process.

"Can I srow somezing 'eavier ven ve get down zere?" Rock asked as they left their room, sliding the projectile of choice back into their room before descending the stairs to find Beast waiting for them at the foot of the stairs in very casual human attire instead of her partial armour over her usual skirt and tank top.

"What'd you throw at her in the first place?" Beast smirked.

"Dog toy." Rock replied. "'it 'er in ze cheek."

"Well, in case you haven't figured it out, they're in the kitchen." Beast pointed towards the room in question. "Happy birthday, you little shit." With a wave, Beast turned and wandered towards the front door and went outside, leaving the two of them to head into the kitchen to speak with Koko and Empress.

"Morning." Koko smirked knowingly, since the two of them were still in their limited sleepwear, Jonah of course was shirtless and had dozens of scratches and fresh red bite marks and lingering traces of saliva on his neck and upper back. It wasn't difficult to know that they were from Rock during their attempt at having some early morning sex.

"So vat ze fuck is 'ex doing barging in on us like zat?" Rock was quick to glare at the one-eyed CIA operative seated between her respective mothers, sipping some coffee without another word.

"We all have a surprise for you, she was just the decoy to get the two of you apart for more than five seconds." Koko replied with a small chuckle. She called it, Rock wasn't pleased by the cockblock in the slightest.

"Vell?" Rock put her hands onto her hips, waiting for Koko to say what the surprise was. Only for Empress to slip a folded piece of paper from behind the sugar bowl and presented it to her daughter without a word, smirking slightly.

She took it and unfolded the paper, quickly losing her bad mood at the sight of the birthday special package invoice for a high end spa outside of London.

"No boys, no guns, no sex. Just us, yourself, your sisters and a whole day to ourselves." Koko smiled warmly. "Chiquita and Black Gold Saw should be here shortly, I had to add them to get that specific package. Besides, they're with my brother, they need some time off too."

"I get it, zank you, Koko. But vat vill ze guys be doing vile ve are at ze spa?"

"I never said they wouldn't have a hand in the celebrations, y'know." Koko chuckled slightly. "Tomboy like you can't have a spa day by itself, gonna have them do something for you here as well. _that_ part was Jonah's idea, believe it or not." She winked at Jonah, who smirked knowingly.

"It's a surprise." Jonah knew what she wanted by the look in her eyes, despite her lack of attempts to search through his mind in their Lifelink. "Trust me, you're gonna love it."

"I vas trying to be cute..." Rock grumbled, having failed to coerce it out of him by the hopeful cuteness on her face. "Damn it."

"Right, you know what you and the guys are doing, we'll head out as soon as Kaspar stops losing his mind about being away from Chiquita and Black Gold Saw for more than five seconds." Koko had also been resistant to Rock's attempted 'I want' expression, so she smirked after a glance at her phone to read a text from Kaspar himself.

"He can handle one day without both of them." Hex smirked. "Just tell him to go to a bar with his other guys, have a few drinks, head back home or whatever and just sleep until the two of them get back."

"He can barely tie his shoes without my help, hon." Chiquita's voice sounded from behind Rock and Jonah, bringing with her the towering Black Gold Saw, horns invisible, and both in casual clothing like the rest of the women present. "Hey girl, diggin' the wings." Chiquita smiled warmly at Rock, who had peered over her inked shoulders to see her and Black Gold Saw appearing from a ripple in the floor.

"Zere's more on my lo'er back too." Rock slid the back of her tank top up slightly to show off the lower portion of her avian tattoo.

"Well, get your feathery ass back upstairs, get yourself dressed and get ready. Don't know about the rest of you, but we're ready to go now that we're out of a certain Heckmatyar's clutches..." Chiquita waved her hand in a 'let's get moving' motion, smirking at the youngest of the present Princesses that was still standing in her pajamas showing off her tattoo.

"Kaspar didn't like you two leaving for ze day, didn't 'e?" Rock turned to face the two women, pausing only long enough to lovingly trace her fingertips across Jonah's chest tattoo, smiling slightly as her gaze followed the diagonal scattering of her own damn symbol on his muscular chest. She received two slow, simultaneous nods in reply to her question as she went up the stairs to get dressed.

Rock returned a few minutes later to find Koko, Valmet, Empress, Hex, Black Gold Saw, Chiquita, Beast, Chariot, Strength and Dead Master all waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, while Jonah was leaning against the wall about halfway up the stairs, smirking at her knowingly.

"I already know zat you're planning somezing, so vat's vizz zat smirk?" Rock matched his cheeky smirk as she linked her wrists at the back of his head for a moment, staring at him pointedly.

"Call it excitement for what I'm planning." Jonah replied smoothly, giving her a kiss before she could escape from his reach. "I'll see you tonight, have a good time, alright?" He spoke quietly, in a low voice that easily brought out another smile to her face.

"I love you." Rock pressed their foreheads together, only having eyes for him.

"And I love you, my Angel." Jonah's reply almost made her melt right there, so she gave him one last quick peck before separating from him and joining the rest of the women.

"Right, all hands and feet inside the ride at all times. We're gonna be reappearing directly at the spa, so if everyone's ready, I'll get us going." Black Gold Saw, having the task of using a ripple to take them all to the spa, spoke up as Rock joined them with a noticeable spring in her steps.

Everyone chorused their agreement, and with the usual liquid-like sound of splashing, they all vanished into the floor in an instant. The last thing Rock saw during the split second moment was Jonah's cheeky wink at her from his place on the stairs.

* * *

"Greetings ladies! Is there anything I can help you with?" The secretary at the front desk greeted them with the perkiness that only a stunning blonde could output.

"I believe we reserved your services for the rest of the day?" Koko slid the invoice from earlier across the front desk with a smirk, with Rock right by her side, one hand on the teen's shoulder to non-verbally identify her as the birthday girl... if the glittery plastic tiara that Beast had put onto her head out in the parking lot wasn't enough of a hint.

"Ah, absolutely! And the birthday girl is..." She checked the computer for a moment, then turned her gaze towards Rock after the provided picture appeared on the screen. "Miss Blake, lovely. Happy birthday sweetie!"

"Before ve take vun more step... Vat am I to expect from all zis?" Rock held up one hand, already noticing the glint in the secretary's eyes.

"A day to relax, unwind all the aches and tension you have, and of course it'll be a day away from the boys with your mother and sisters."

"Hmmm..." Rock's own eyes glinted with a sudden idea before turning to Koko and speaking in Old Speak. "So what aren't we allowed to do with this birthday package?"

"Only thing we can't do today is the cardio pool. Why bother when you have Jonah to handle that?" Koko replied in kind, winking at Rock's suddenly cocky smirk.

"Right, lead ze vay." Rock turned back to the secretary, just as a group of attendants came into the foyer from a set of double doors, one of whom was carrying a larger tiara on a blue cushion. "I like mine, sanks."

And with that, they were each personally escorted into the next hall, a stylish modern lobby that lead to different facilities that the spa offered.

"Now, ladies, each of us are at your beck and call for the day. Here are the pager buttons to call us to you, and of course each of the doorways you see will lead to our various facilities being offered. As per your package's only restriction, the door on the far right, at the end, is the cardio pool that you've omitted from the package."

"Massages first, agreed?" Rock asked them all at large, and they immediately agreed. "Vich vay?" She accepted the pager from her attendant, who turned her gaze to the second doorway on the left side of the lobby. "Second door. Shall we?"

* * *

"Koko not here?" The HCLI deliveryman asked as Lehm signed for the delivery of guns that Koko had ordered as gifts for Rock's birthday. Beside him was Jonah, chewing on the last piece of an apple tart.

"She's out for the day, yeah." Lehm replied, returning the pen and accepting the two large hardcases from the wheeled dolly. "Thanks for the delivery."

"No problem, take care gents." He waved as he returned to his truck as Lehm and Jonah each took a case into the living room and opened the lids to inspect Rock's two new shotguns, the first was the Saiga-12. Inspired by her love of shotguns and the AK itself, as well as having resided on their 'fun gun' list for about a month and a half. That case was the one that Lehm opened.

"Looks like it's in working order, just gotta install the firing pin and load a mag with shells." Lehm shouldered the weapon and aimed it, sans magazine, out the large bay window. "I'll handle that." He lowered the weapon and lifted the removed pieces of the bolt out of the case in a plastic bag. "How's that one?"

Jonah had inherited Rock's memories of her shotgun training recently, so he easily lifted the formerly unfamiliar weapon, her new customized M870 Marine Magnum, to his own shoulder and peered down the iron sights, like Lehm, aiming out the window. He slid the safety off and pulled the pump back, feeling the crisp, sharp shift after the initial resistance that he expected to occur with the brand new weapon.

"Same idea. I'll do the pin too." Jonah retrieved the removed pin and reset the safety before beginning to open the receiver while Lehm did the same with the Saiga.

* * *

In minutes, everyone was being massaged by the spa's masseuse team, with Rock herself enjoying a neck massage without her adapter, not that she had anything to say since she was having such a good time. Of course her adapter wasn't beyond her reach, sitting on a nearby trolley connected to a courtesy portable USB charger.

Hex, Empress, Koko, Chiquita and Black Gold Saw were all laying facedown while they received back massages from some very attractive male masseuses. And of course they were happily gossiping about the men in Old Speak the entire time. Chiquita of course was surprisingly fluent in the language, since she lacked a Lifelink nor a magically-bestowed understanding of the language.

All of the girls, as well as Valmet, weren't actually sure about things, so they were receiving simple shoulder massages to get accustomed to the pampering treatment.

Lastly, Chariot, with her tiara of horns, was receiving an unorthodox massage on the individual spokes themselves, having revealed to the group at large, plus the spa personnel, that they developed tension over time just like her muscles. Empress confirmed the claim, but refused a horn massage for herself, saying that hers weren't tense.

"If I may, does anyone else have some of those magic horns that wants a massage too?" One of the masseuses asked, unsure of which of the women and girls to ask, so instead asked at large.

"Mmmmm... I do." Black Gold Saw cracked open one eye languidly and allowed her horns to reappear in full. "I wouldn't mind having mine done."

Rock sighed happily as her neck massage ended, with her masseuse asking if she wanted a specific massage next. She nodded, reaching over her shoulder to tap her back.

"Right dear, I'll prepare a table, one moment please." She nodded in understanding and moved to set up the sixth table at the end of the row of adult women receiving their own back massages. A minute later, it was in position, and Rock easily got into position, flat on her stomach while her masseuse explained what she'd be receiving.

At the end of the mutual massage sessions, everyone was now wearing the in-house robes and chatting away about what they all wanted to try next, waiting for Rock to put her adapter back on to speak.

"Ve can go do vatever, ve don't all 'ave to do ze same zing at ze same time." Rock noticed that they were all waiting on her. "If you vant to vander off, go a'ead."

"You sure?" Chiquita asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's your day, hon..."

"I'm sure." Rock nodded. "I noticed zat zere's a 'air salon 'ere, so I vant to get mine done."

"Oh? Is that a surprise for Jonah?" Koko teased with a cheeky smile on her face.

"You know me so vell." Rock winked, not denying the claim either. "I 'ave somezing in mind for 'im, yes."

"Well, you heard the little Princess. She said we can go do our thing while she gets her hair done." Chiquita chuckled. "Have fun, hon. I might get myself in there at some point too."

"Me too." Strength mumbled, averting her gaze away from Chariot, who luckily didn't hear her voicing her plan to have a haircut as well.

With their attendants leading the way, all eleven of them went to the various facilities after they'd left the massage parlour, with Rock herself headed for the hair stylist across the atrium, coming face to face with a male stylist that she could tell right away was fabulously flamboyant as he caught sight of her midnight black hair.

"Ohhh, the birthday girl herself! My my, how old sweetie?"

"Sixteen." Rock replied, doing the fashionable double cheek kiss as the stylist introduced her to a hand mirror showcasing her reflection.

"Ooh, sweet sixteen~! Now, hun, do you have something in mind for your hair? A cut? dye?"

"Bozz, actually." Rock replied, turning her head slightly to get another angle for a moment. "I vant red tips, wizz a much shorter lengs. I'll leave zat part up to you, I don't 'ave anyzing in mind uzzer zan being shorter."

"Mmmm... I have an idea that'll be absolutely perfect, sweetie. Hop into the chair and we'll get started right away!" He spun on his heel and spun the chair to face her, clearly excited by her requested plan of red dyed tips to her much shorter haircut than her existing curtains of beautiful midnight black hair.


	49. Chapter 49

All of the guys, including Jonah, were relaxing on the back deck after having finished setting up the celebration for Rock's birthday, with all save for Wiley and Jonah enjoying a beer. Their conversation was casual, admiring their handiwork around them and the nearby table of dinner that had ben prepared for dinner. Koko had called the house briefly earlier to let them know that they would be returning en mass in about half an hour, right in the front hall, stating that Black Gold Saw warned to keep the hall clear so that no mishaps occurred in the arrival.

So, with Roxy roaming the deck and all the guys waiting for their return, they discussed a recent piece of news that they'd overheard during the prepwork earlier that afternoon; One of the Umbrella Corporation's top executives, their Head of Security, had died in an accident at their main headquarters in Raccoon City, which had also seriously injured another executive and a high ranking security guard.

"We all know Umbrella's not squeaky clean, but it still sucks that she bit the bullet like that. But I have the strangest feeling that this isn't some crazy conspiracy, sounds way too reasonable." R noted before sipping his beer.

"It's Tobias' mother." Jonah suddenly spoke up. "He told me and Koko during our first meeting with him for those Exosuits. His mom's their Head of Security."

"Oh shit... you think the guard that was mentioned is him?" Lehm asked, to which they all shrugged at the possibilities. "Koko might not like that, I mean, she does consider him a friend right?"

"Hopefully he's alright." Tojo sighed slightly, holding up his beer slightly before noticing Jonah glancing towards the side of the house, a telltale sign before Jonah even announced it.

"They're back."

Not a moment later the sounds of movement was heard from inside the kitchen, and Roxy was already eagerly sitting at the sliding glass doors, her perky ears and little tail immediately giving away her excitement to see Rock again.

"Evening boys!" Chiquita was the first to appear at the doors, followed by Dead Master and Hex, all of them breezing out to join the guys for the planned backyard barbaque dinner. And of course they were all clearly pampered and in good spirits as Empress, Koko, Valmet and Black Gold Saw quickly followed outside. Then the rest of the girls, save for Rock herself.

"So... where's she hiding?" Lutz asked Jonah with a smirk, knowing that Rock wasn't going to just flow in with the main cluster, instead favouring a more distinctive appearance.

"She just went to the bathroom." Beast heard him as she arrived, her crown and eye flame back in full view as she indicated over her shoulder with her thumb.

"Had a good time?" Lehm smirked at Koko, who was already holding a glass of scotch as she sat in one of the numerous spare folding chairs that was already set up for their return.

"Absolutely!" Koko nodded as she sipped her booze with a satisfied sigh. "You should go with us next time, old man." She smiled teasingly, to which Lehm chuckled dryly.

"I'd go just to see them try and get me and my old bones to relax, that'd be an exercise in futility, for sure." Lehm held up his beer with a smirk.

"Not even going to deny it, magic methods are not as effective as manual efforts like that." Black Gold Saw accepted a beer from Chiquita and easily popped the lid off with a wave of one finger. "Wouldn't you agree, my Queen?"

"Definitely." Empress - who had already set aside a bottle of wine that morning - calmly poured herself a glass of wine by hand. "Were their methods with the horn massages worth it?"

"It was clearly new to them, so it took a few moments of trying until it felt right for both of us." Black Gold Saw explained, since her horns were rather simple in structure, and smoothly glass-like in texture. Chariot's intricate tiara of horns had a very slightly rough, but noticeably metallic texture, in comparison.

Jonah raised an eyebrow at the commentary, staring at the two mages with a curious suspicion for a moment until a certain someone wrapped her arms around his neck from behind with a giggle at his rare moment of distraction.

"It vas unorsodox, but zey pulled it off." Rock explained, then held up her hands in his view, showing off her dazzling sparkly blue manicure. "Like it?"

"I can smell the hair dye, is that why you're hiding behind me like that?" Jonah asked, since he was the only one that could tell her current arm draped around his shoulder and the position of her own head were preventing him from turning his head even slightly.

"No." Jonah felt her cheeks shifting with her smirk. "'ex and 'er big boobs ver in ze vay for ze direct route."

"Jealous?" Hex challenged with a raised eyebrow at the cheeky comment from the pair.

"Of your back problems? Not really." Rock countered right back. "I'll enjoy my fabulous backside, zanks."

"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine." Hex chuckled as she accepted a second wine glass from Empress. "Thanks."

"I can see zat." Rock winked, again referring to Hex's large bust, but ended the conversation by suddenly releasing Jonah's head from her entrapping arm by turning his face towards hers with her free hand by pressing against his jawline and immediately kissing him with a smile on both of their faces.

"And I can see your new haircut." Jonah did indeed spot the red-tipped pixie cut that carefully ended just above her left eye.

"I vas tempted to do my 'ole 'ead in navy blue, but I zought it vould be too much like a gossic tomboy zing, y'know?" Rock replied cheekily. "And you vould 'ave to do some serious pussy licking to even dare get me to vear pink... Fuck. Zat."

"Aww, and I already had the perfect pink apron picked out to go with that little red thong you love to wear so much..." Jonah whispered tauntingly into her ear, earning a playful swat of her hand to his chest, coupled with her expression of mock surprise. "Or was it the blue one?" He knew he'd gotten her, so she linked her wrists at the back of his head as she smoothly swung her leg over his lap and straddled him, facing him with a cocky smirk on her face to match the gleam in her eyes.

"I could just go vizzout panties, y'know." Rock replied, forgetting that her adapter didn't take into consideration the difference between normal speech and whispering, so everyone heard her and started laughing. That of course made her face go red for a moment, during which Jonah leaned closer to her and took the chance while he still had it.

"Can I get that in writing?"

"Alright alright, enough of that. It's time to eat before you two get ahead of yourselves." Koko waved her hand to cut the lewdness off. "So grab your plates, then we can move onto the gifts for the horny little birthday girl." She added the last part teasingly, smirking at Rock as she begrudgingly started to get off of Jonah's lap, only to pause briefly and look down at his leg, then her gaze shot back up to his face and realized he was smirking. He knew, for sure... She hadn't imagined it.

* * *

During dinner, Rock couldn't stop thinking about what Jonah had in his pocket. It was small, but from the brief moment of contact against her leg she couldn't tell if it was square or circular in shape. But he definitely knew she'd touched it, and he knew what it was, so that lead her to believe he was planning something with it. Because it certainly wasn't a hard-on... What could it be?! She internally sighed at their mutual skill at hiding thoughts like that in their Lifelink, but she had no idea whether she was suspicious or excited by the surprise he was planning...

"Here."

With a soft thump a wrapped gift was dropped on top of her head, which she immediately grabbed and turned to see that it was Beast smirking at her distraction.

"Good, you're still here." Beast continued. "Finish eating so you can get your gifts and go bang your other half." She chastised her little sister knowingly, since Rock was currently the last one to finish eating, admittedly close to finished.

"Is zis vun yours?" Rock indicated the obviously clothing gift.

"Hex. Mine's the blue one on the end of the table." Beast pointed at the table devoted to the gifts from everyone.

"Well, I have something for you before we start on the gifts, alright?" Koko's voice caught the attention of the sisters, with the faint smell of something burning, so they both turned to see Koko carrying a birthday cake with a ring of lit candles. She easily placed it on the table of food, right in the middle, and beckoned Rock over.

Rock was on her feet immediately, half-tempted to do one of her flicker dashes but decided to walk the six feet. And without even wasting a second she blew out the candles, earning applause from everyone around the deck. She then gasped sharply when Jonah slid up behind her and sinuously matched up their bodies, resting his chin on the top of her head after kissing the back of her neck with a smile.

"Looking for this?" Jonah asked, sliding his arms around her stomach to hold up one of the last things that anyone expected to see...

A ring box.


	50. Chapter 50

**A/N: So it has recently come to my attention that I was lead by the nose concerning Black Star Empress' possible canon origins. Thanks man, you've upgraded Empress to the ranks of one of my very own OC's! Jokes on you!**

* * *

"That better not be what I think it is..." Koko's tone was wary, and everyone was staring at the ring box in silence. Even Rock was speechless, although for the fact that she was clueless about the purpose of the ring box and what it contained.

"Hex..." Empress glanced over at her own Lifelinked partner, who was openly gawking at the display. "Memories, please."

"I... hold up one sec, hon. Jonah..." Hex stood up and walked forward, speaking in a rare, gentle tone. "You do know what everyone thinks that ring is for, right?"

"Well if she'd open it, things would make a bit more sense." Jonah replied cheekily, which snapped Rock back from her slight stupor and she took the box and pried it open.

Inside was a silver ring with a heart-cut sapphire, edged by a small border of gold. And there was a rune engraved into the only flat part of the heart's surface. An Old Speak rune...

"'Promise'?" Rock narrowed her eyes at Jonah, annoyed by his playful expression right now. "Vat's zis for?"

"It's for you." Jonah replied, letting go of her and slowly stepping in front of her, and crouched onto one knee, earning a sharp gasp from Koko at the quite audacious movement. "I made this promise before, and I will say it again: I am, and always will be yours. No matter what happens, I will be there for you. And with this ring, my promise is given form. I promised it back in Prague, and now I'm making it again today."

Rock's face went immediately crimson as everyone gawked at Jonah's kneeling pose after hearing his words. Even Koko was completely stunned, even after being present for the original promise in Prague.

"I don't know vezzer I should be sitting on your face or vorshipping your cock right now..." Rock finally managed to find her voice, staring deeply into his eyes. "You cheeky muzzerfucker, zis is vy I love you."

"That's not all I have for you." Jonah stood up and his gaze flicked over to Empress for a moment before she subtly nodded at him. "You and me are going out later this week."

"Is zis zat surprise you mentioned zis morning?" Rock noticed his glance to someone else behind her while she was putting the ring onto her left hand, and she got the sneaking suspicion that he had blindsided everybody with the whole promise ring stunt.

"Maybe." Jonah winked with a smirk before producing the cake knife from the table and very obviously diverted the subject. "Shall I? Or do you want to do the honours and cut the first piece?"

"Vere are ve going, Jonah?" Rock didn't fall for the distraction.

"Kinda ruins the surprise if I tell you beforehand." Jonah replied. "So can we get cake and do your gifts now?"

* * *

After the birthday celebrations finally came to a close, just after dusk, the two respective visiting groups bade them goodnight and teleported back home, leaving Rock and Jonah upstairs, having been there for several quiet minutes beforehand.

Unsurprisingly they were making out the entire time. Jonah had carried her up the stairs in his arms and brought her over to their bed, leaving her sitting sideways in his lap.

He could feel the shift of her going purple before she had even opened her eyes. He was smirking knowingly as she cupped her hands onto the sides of his face as she pulled back to do just that, staring at him while she took a moment to catch her breath.

"So..." Rock smirked slightly between her measured breaths for air. "Unless you 'ave somezing planned, I vant to make a request before our pants come off."

"I'm listening." Jonah's eyes glinted playfully.

"First... 'ow much do you trust me?" Rock asked, well aware she knew the answer after his stunt with the promise ring that was proudly glittering on her left hand.

"I think that ring on your left hand is explanation enough." Jonah chuckled. "I trust you without question." He gave a proper response anyway, even after she giggled aloud.

"So zat revard from Koko zat I've been saving... I vas zinking zat she joins us for zis time. Are you okay vizz zis idea?"

"I get the feeling you've got more in mind when she joins us." Jonah nodded without taking his eyes away from hers until he instinctively knew that Koko was in their doorway. He turned his head and knew right away that Rock had already spent the reward by speaking to Koko before everyone had started preparing to leave, which was when he'd surprised her by lifting her into his arms in a bridal carry and brought her upstairs.

"She wanted to keep things reasonable and tame." Koko smirked after being noticed so quickly. "Which leads to her next question for you."

"Oh?" Jonah turned back to her, realizing that she was blushing nervously, almost as vividly as her hair.

"Ve 'aven't tried everyzing... and I vasn't sure about 'ow to ask you to... um..." Rock stopped talking as her face went completely crimson.

"It's alright, take your time." Jonah spoke gently, able to sense her bombarding waves of embarrassment and an underlying aura of equal parts shame and excitement, which was what particularly got Jonah's attention within their Lifelink.

Rock's adapter didn't register her next words, barely more than just mouthing the word itself, so even she looked up to blink twice in surprise.

"I... vant to try... um..." Rock averted her gaze from either of them for a second before finally getting her wish into words. " _Anal_."

Jonah gently kissed her forehead with a loving smile tugging at his lips. "With a booty like yours, I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner." He teased her, knowing that Koko had snickered slightly behind him. "Can I ask why you burnt a full reward on that though?"

"Vell... um... it's... new, after all. And I didn't know vezzer or not I vas ready to give it a try, until I remembered ven Koko told us about 'aving sex on ze kitchen counter feels good on ze ass..." Rock explained. "So I used ze revard for zis sreesome so zat Koko could just... um... point us in ze right direction or somezing like zat."

"Well, I don't see a problem with it. I'd be fine having Koko help us like that." Jonah didn't even need to think about it, Rock was right. Koko was someone that they both trusted completely, and it was no secret that they had sex with each other a lot, so this felt right, without even a hint of doubt in his mind. "Besides, it's not like we bother hiding what we do, right?"

"If it wasn't a special occasion or cashing in a reward, I'd have at least lectured you two about that." Koko teased with a smirk. "But I'll let it slide, just for tonight." With that she stepped into their room and closed the door behind herself, then took a seat at their desk, facing them with a slight shift in her smirk. It still had that teasing glint, but seemed to be much more sly too. "I do have one condition, if I may."

"Sure, vat's up?" Rock knew that the gears were already in motion, so she and Jonah both gave Koko their full attention.

"If it isn't completely obvious by now, I'm not heterosexual." Koko's smile became very amused. "So, Jonah, please keep your dick in Rock and not me, okay? I'm sure Valmet wouldn't appreciate it if I started to constantly dote on you as a lover instead of her, alright?"

"We could tell that fact for a long time, Koko. I get it." Jonah nodded slowly in agreement to her request. "So, since we've made everything clear, I think it's time that a certain Princess finally gets her reward that she so patiently saved for so long..."

* * *

"So I've been meaning to ask you something..." Hex's good eye went over to where Empress was standing, in her blindspot, as soon as they and Beast reappeared at the safehouse in Virginia.

"Oh? If you're bringing it up now, it clearly wasn't meant for Koko or Rock to hear." Empress smiled slightly, turning her head as Hex did the same for proper eye contact between them. Even Beast had glanced back and forth, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"More towards Rock, honestly." Hex shrugged. "Why _did_ you mute her voice back in Prague?"

Empress' expression shifted slightly, visibly pursing her lips before letting out a small exhale through her nose.

"It... wasn't originally my idea. But it was the most painless of the ones presented to me at the time." Empress was clearly choosing her words very carefully. "Unfortunately, until... certain conditions are met, I'm not actually allowed to say anything beyond that for the time being."

"Did you know about this?" Hex turned her head slightly towards Beast, who shook her head.

"Wasn't allowed to be in that conversation. I was ordered to stand outside the door. I've got a gag order too, for what little I know. And yeah, they even thought of your Lifelink, so even if you tried to get the memories, it'd backfire on you just for trying."

"Why do I get the feeling this shit's more sinister than it sounds?" Hex narrowed both of her eyes warily, the hairs on the back of her neck rising at the mention of blocking out Lifelinks like that.

"My dear human, that's the most accurate description possible for someone lacking the proper details." A new, oddly playful sounding female voice spoke up behind them, which brought up Beast's Seven-Shot gun faster than any of them could blink, but Empress' hand shot out even faster, calmly - albeit incredibly quickly - placing it on the top of the glowing blue barrel that was so akin to a Beretta M92f.

"Beast. She's known for sudden appearances, put it down." Empress hadn't even glanced at the owner of the voice yet, but Beast was glaring at the girl at the end of her gun with a deadly focus.

"I've been here for three hours and fifteen minutes, actually. You left England exactly when I arrived to sit in this very chair. You're the ones making the sudden appearance this time around. The house is far too quiet at this time of night, you almost startled me to the point of a very undignified shriek, I must admit."

"Who is she?" Beast didn't lower her gun, and by now Hex had affixed the young looking girl a proper stare, taking in her appearance.

Her ram horns adorning the sides of her head immediately gave away her mage heritage, and she was dressed in a rather cute white sundress with a pink sash around her waist, and was seated on one of their own chairs, her legs crossed at the knees and her hands - one of which was clad in a wrist-length silvery metal gauntlet that only partially covered her fingers, which had pink nail polish that matched her sash - were calmly clasped in her lap.

"Ram, are they permitted to be present for this conversation? Case in point, your initial comment about Hex lacking details." Empress pointedly pressed her hand on Beast's Seven-Shot downwards, and the gun was lowered with a sigh and a steely glare through blue flames before the horned girl hummed in thought briefly.

"If they're present, I'm afraid I'll need to make things both brief _and_ vague. If they step outside while we speak, then you're permitted by the Elders to paraphrase what we're about to discuss." Ram explained. "And before you two get the wrong idea, I'm just the liaison between Queenie here and the Elders."

"Hex, Beast... time is of the essence for these matters, so could you both please step outside so we can talk in full?" Empress spoke in a clearly apologetic tone and locked gazes with Hex, who instantly recognized the hidden 'I'll make it up to you' in her eyes.

"Alright, it's no big deal." Hex nodded and left, and after a brief scowl at Ram, Beast followed while dismissing Seven-Shot with her own flash of blue light, so akin to her little sister.

"Not my rules, you know this." Ram held up both hands, palms up, and Empress sighed with a nod as she pulled up the nearest chair and sat across from Ram. "So, which one first? The bad news or the scary news?"

"If there's any good news, I'd like to hear _that_ first."

"Your hair looks gorgeous, and that perfume I can smell is amazing." Ram smiled at the thus far rarity of an obvious joke from Empress.

"Alright, bad news first." Empress smiled at Ram's genuine compliments.

"White's base is here in the United States, in Nevada, she has a dedicated enplaced Portal Sphere back to the Palace in Otherworld, and she's been having the Federal Bureau of Investigations running recon on any known sightings of not just yourself and Beasty, but Rocky-Poo too. And she's got a cheeky human boy Charmed up to his near-sighted eyeballs working for her, some Canadian civilian named Nick Tarka Ryan. Elders wouldn't permit me to look into him beyond his name and enthrallment to your eldest daughter."

"And the scary news?" Empress gulped loudly, bracing herself for the worst.

"How blunt do you want me to be?" Ram asked, her gauntleted hand's index finger tapping her thigh only once, which was a gesture that Empress did not fail to notice.

"Hammer blunt." Empress brought her gaze right back to Ram's own eyes, staring her right in the face.

"Rocky-Poo's gonna be pregnant." Ram stated immediately, then held up her un-clad hand, which had a simple wristwatch. "In 3... 2... 1..."

Empress' eyes widened in utter terror, her mind and body practically grinding to a halt even before she had finished vocalizing her other rarity in and of her patterns of speech...

" _Fuck_."

* * *

 **A/N: Side note, that is the only time that Empress has used a human vulgarity in the entire story.**


	51. Chapter 51

**A/N: Had a slight error happen while uploading this chapter, which made my original A/N disappear. So I'll just repair the damage and move on with an added comment, entitled 'Side Note'.**

 **Original: "So it might seem hard to follow, but the latest few chapters (as of the spa trip) up until, and including, this chapter are all happening in the same night. White and Ryan are in Nevada, Hex and Empress spoke to Ram in their Virginia safehouse, and of course, Rock and Jonah had a threesome with Koko at home in England."  
**

 **Side Note: Ryan's name is Nick Tarka Ryan. His name was undecided upon his introduction, so as a placeholder for myself to later edit, I gave him my own name as his SURNAME. So a certain someone should stop making jokes, hint hint.**

 **Also, in response to a recent review (in Portuguese) from Akira Nakamura: That's an interesting theory, but I must shed a bit of light on it; Rock's not going to give birth to IBRS. She and IBRS are one entity (she's IBRS. IBRS is her), but you're correct about the colour part of your idea. It does play a major role in not only the plot, but also their child themself.**

* * *

"Got some good news for you." Ryan smirked as White awoke with a start from her admittedly cute moment of sleeping with her open palm supporting her head in the crook of her large desk chair.

"And?" White pinched the bridge of her nose while clenching her eyes together for a moment to collect herself, acutely aware of the fact Ryan's smirk hinted that she'd been an amusing sight while she slept.

"That fucked up metallic thing you've made for capturing your sister is finally finished..." Ryan stepped into the office and closed the door, revealing that he was holding a dossier. "And the feds finally gave you something useful this time. Here."

White took the folder and turned it to rest on her inner forearm whilst simultaneously opening it with the same hand, scanning the report without a word until she let out an exhale through her nose and closed the file to toss it on the desk while sitting back in her chair.

"This makes things interesting... I forgot that these stupid Americans had more than one major intelligence agency. Not to mention how well my mother's been staying out of sight, almost literally." White affixed Ryan with a narrowed glare. "So what do you propose be done about my mother specifically?"

"Y'know, if it weren't for the ridiculous streak of luck in even finding this shit, I'd have something clever to suggest." Ryan returned the glare with an equally sassy stare. "But I don't. I shouldn't need to remind you that I may be smart, but I'm no fed. Nor am I a soldier or strategist."

"Like I give a damn. For a mere civilian you've proven your worth several times over." White didn't relinquish her glare, but it did soften for a moment. "She's in Virginia, within reach of the CIA, and of course close enough to them that she's still a lingering threat if need be... Right?"

"Keep going." Ryan nodded with a knowing smirk. She was piecing it together, for sure.

"So that means she has a liaison or some kind of handler to act as a go-between..." White opened the file again, hastily scanning it, but found nothing useful. "As well as someone that she reports to, regardless of the reason itself. Someone in a position of power..."

"And don't forget that we also know where Koko Heckmatyar lives now. England, which is part of Europe."

"So someone in the CIA's European related branches... authoritative position, probably has political connections too..." White glanced at the file again, but nothing stood out again. "Suggestions would be nice, Ryan." She hardened her glare again towards him, but he shook his head slightly.

"I don't know every federal agency's members, White. What we need to do now is send scouts to Virginia to try and uncover any further intel we could possibly use." Ryan was perhaps a rare human, in and of the fact he _knew_ he was Charmed, but still had almost complete cognitive functions. And with that, his sense of humour and cocky personality became very evident in his next words. "Or you could have another dive into your sister's Lifelink partner's subconsciousness again, give him a little striptease to get him out of bed and wander around their house and hope for something useful when you replay the visual memories back here."

"Come here." White's tone hadn't changed. Ryan noticed that fact, but still approached the desk and took her rather weak punch without even flinching. "He caught me the first time! What makes you think he hasn't prepared for a repeat attempt?!"

"And what makes you think he hasn't?" Ryan countered with the same cockiness. "Next time you throw a punch, keep your wrist locked and don't put your thumb over your knuckles like that. Put it like this." Ryan held up his clenched fist to demonstrate the safer thumb placement and firm wrist. "Now, it's..." He relaxed the hand, tilting the wrist to check his watch. "... 6:14pm right now for us here in Nevada. So it should be about midnight or 1am over in England right now, if my timezone calculation is correct. You've done it before, so fucking do it. And if he's expecting you, bail before it backfires. If he's out cold, fuck with his head and get him on his feet to walk it off. And while he's walking, invade his eyes so you get a better chance of finding something we can work with here to capture your little sister. I might not know everything, but I certainly know how heavily your main objective hinges on your little sister being under _your_ direct control."

White punched him again, properly this time, growling in frustration at his attitude.

"You are not to speak again, until I get back from performing that task. And when I do get back, I will decide how best to make you pay for that mouth of yours. Have I made myself _clear_?" She snarled the ending with her eyes narrowed into razor sharp slits as her pink eye flame flared brightly over her right eye for a split second.

"Good punch this time. Well done." Ryan knew he'd made it worse on himself, but at the same time, she at least needed to make the connection that she'd gotten the punch right this time around, and hopefully for future usage too.

* * *

Jonah awoke with a sharp gasp, his face immediately forming a scowl after the very unlikely dream he'd just had. Almost on instinct he knew what was going on, and just heaved a sigh.

"Having fun stripteasing me inside my own head, bitch?" Jonah spoke aloud, keeping his gaze focused on Rock sleeping beside him, beautifully framed by the shaft on moonlight coming in from their window. "I know you're still there. So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get some sleep."

Nothing happened for several minutes. After that length of time, Jonah smirked and laid back down to sleep, feeling accomplished for catching on so quickly that White was running recon again.

* * *

"Damn it!" White slammed her fist onto her desk as soon as she regained her awareness after delving her mind into Jonah's. "He caught me _AGAIN_!"

"Then we try someone else, at a later date." Ryan had been leaning against her desk the whole time she was in her trance-like state, his arms crossed over his stomach. "Other than him, your sister and Heckmatyar herself, do we know if there's anyone else in their house that we can potentially manipulate like this?"

"I don't have the faintest idea of that sort of thing." White was scowling as she sat back in her chair to think. "And the only reason I'm able to perform these on him specifically is because he touched the Portal Sphere I created to lure her out of the Badlands in the first place."

"So... hypothetically, what about your sister? Can you do anything to her like with him?" Ryan uncrossed his arms to do a sort of 'this or that' gesture.

"I'd need to put more effort into what I just did with the boy. And the results are up to how she handles it herself."

"Then do it now while the boy thinks he's in the clear."

* * *

Rock blearily opened her eyes, realizing that it was still the middle of the night. She groaned slightly, rolling over to cuddle with Jonah to try and fall back asleep, but faltered upon catching sight of who was perched on the edge of their desk.

" _YOU_!" Rock snarled, scrambling out of bed and backing away from her oldest sister. Only to gasp loudly as she realized that she had just spoken aloud. " _What the fuck_?!" She warily touched her own neck, realizing that her choker was not there, which meant neither was her adapter.

"You're fine, this is a dream in your own head." White was sitting with one knee raised, her foot on the edge of the desk while one arm was resting atop her kneecap, while the other was hanging loosely by her side. "I know your little Silence curse-rune only affects your voice in the physical world."

"So why are you inside my head?" Rock demanded with a steely glare.

"I wanted to ask you some things." White replied, speaking in the same calm tone.

"Why?"

"Where's mom?" White ignored the secondary question.

"Somewhere in the US. I don't know where." Rock replied flatly.

"You're lying." White arched her eyebrows. "You know where."

"Some place called Virginia. I don't know where the fuck it is, why the hell do you want to know where she is? We all know you're trying to overthrow her."

"You don't need to worry about that detail. You're more important to me while you're still ignorant to these sorts of things." White hopped off the desk and approached her youngest sister, who stepped backwards instinctively. "So... you've been influenced to fear me. I see... Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"You've tried to kill me before I went to the Badlands, many times... and you've cursed my Lifelink with Jonah. What makes you think I'd willingly put myself at risk?" Rock wanted nothing more than to wake up right away, but being stuck in this dream invasion, she couldn't sense Jonah at all, and it was making her start to panic.

"I won't deny that fact." White continued to approach with excruciating slowness. "You have no idea how valuable you are... do you?"

"What do you mean by that?!" Rock kept backing away, circling the floor space to maintain their distance, without taking her eyes off her eldest sister for a second.

"It was your birthday yesterday, right? I'm not surprised you don't know what happens to us at that age. What with spending three years in the Badlands like you did..."

"What are you talking about?!" Rock demanded forcefully, scowling viciously to hide her confusion.

"Again, you're worth more when you don't know the details." White was slowly extending her hand to touch Rock, but there was a sudden shudder all around the room, and Rock screamed in agony as she clutched her suddenly bleeding shoulder.

"DAMN IT!" White snarled furiously, then vanished completely as Rock's dream was shattered from the outside.

* * *

"Fucking bitch, I am getting sick of your shit, White!" Koko snarled as Rock snapped back to reality, instantly grabbing at Jonah's pocket knife that Koko had hastily shoved into her shoulder to get her back from the forced dream state. " _Leave her ALONE_!"

"Rock, hey, I'm right here." Jonah cupped her cheeks to get her attention focused onto him. "We know, it's White. We had to get you back before she did anything damaging. It's just my knife, you'll be alright."

Rock took several steadying breaths before gripping the handle and yanked it out of her shoulder. Doing so elicited a grunt of pain, but her regeneration was already taking care of it immediately. After a few moments, she nodded to signify she was fully healed, then reached for her choker on the bedside table to start talking about what she'd witnessed during White's invasive dream.

"It vas 'er... She vanted to know vere my muzzer is in Virginia, and kept saying zat I'm valuable to 'er for somezing related to me turning sixteen."

"She talked to you too?" Jonah's eyes narrowed. "She tried to invade my dream earlier too, but she vanished after I caught her doing it."

"So vy did you stab me?" Rock asked. "Vas I not vaking up or somezing?"

"You were semi-conscious, and your eyes looked really dull. But Jonah said your Lifelink was full of panic, so he realized you were trapped with magic, so I improvised, hoping that the pain would register in your Link enough to get through the magic." Koko explained. "We've been trying to wake you up for about fifteen minutes, how long was it for you?"

"I dunno, five minutes, I zink?" Rock shook her head slightly, unsure of the span of time that the dream had felt like.

"What I want to know is how she's even able to pull this bullshit off. She's here on Earth, for sure... But she's not _here_ , and last time I checked, Empress would know if anything else was cursed in the house. I mean, she was here with us for like, four hours! Which leads me to my next question: How did White even curse the doorknob the first time around?!"

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head." Jonah shook his head, unsure about the details too.

"She seems to know more zan ve zink. But from vat she said in ze dream, I zink she's still looking for more information right now. Uzzervise she vouldn't 'ave asked me vere our muzzer lives in Virginia."

Koko let out an annoyed sigh at the eldest of Empress' daughters latest antics. "I don't feel comfortable leaving you two alone again, and I certainly won't be going back to sleep tonight myself, so let's get you blood cleaned up and go get some coffee. Consider it a special freebie, just this once, alright, Princess?"


	52. Chapter 52

Hex and Empress sat upright in bed, each resting their head on the other's shoulder as they came to terms with what Ram had told Empress.

"This is beyond me, but I get the part that Rock's pregnant. Although you Otherworlders have a slightly different biology than us humans do during puberty."

"What do you mean?" Empress prided herself on being a strong woman, but even she was on the brink of tears right now.

"Human girls get their first period several years earlier, and it varies from girl to girl. I got mine at 13." Hex explained. "But your world's girls on the other hand, like you've explained to me, _always_ get their first one on their 16th birthday. I get it, different dimension, different logic."

"It's just how we are. I had mine the morning of my sixteenth." Empress took a steadying breath, then slowly exhaled it through her nose. "And now that we know where my eldest is hiding, I am wrought by a sense of dread and anxiety to which I haven't felt since I first became Queen and fought the last skirmishes of the war alongside my husband, before his death."

"Nevada's not difficult to pinpoint any possible base that she may be using. CIA's got quite a few secret ones there, not to mention that a good drone flight would be a cinch to track her down. Because even I can see that both humans and Otherworlders need to breathe air, eat food and drink water. She's gonna need supplies, so that means stuff is coming into that base on a regular basis."

"We'll handle that in due time, It's just.. I..." Empress sighed, hanging her head a bit lower against Hex's collarbone. "My oldest daughter's making aims to overthrow my reign, my youngest is pregnant and proudly bears a Lifelink, and of course I as well, to you..."

Hex could hear the stress in Empress' voice, and before thinking she cupped Empress' face with both of her hands and boldly pulled her up into a fiery kiss.

Empress' eyes widened in shock, too stunned to fight back for a moment, until she relaxed and accepted the passionate kiss with a content sigh. She knew why Hex had made such an impulsive action.

When they separated for air, Hex's single eye was staring specifically at Empress' red eye, glittering with burning desire.

"Hex..." Empress began, but she was cut off with a sharp shush.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

Empress' gaze minutely glanced down to Hex's tiny little smirk, appearing almost cocky... daring her to decline. And before she knew it, her futile shred of potential resistance gave out completely and she ever so gently brushed her lips against Hex's.

It didn't take long for them both to both feel and hear their racing heartbeats begin to smoothly synchronize to one another, coupled with the rising flushes to their faces and heated excitement rising inside their chests. It was at this point, when they tore themselves apart from one another, panting for breath, that they realized how long overdue that things had gotten between them.

* * *

The next morning, both of them awoke and were just beginning to prepare for the day ahead when they both felt a chill sneaking up their spines at the exact same time. They shared a glance before craning their necks to see who was touching them like that.

"We weren't listening... were we?" Empress let out a sigh at the sight of Ram standing at their shoulders, her hands still on their backs.

"Yeah." Ram nodded very slightly as she stepped back one stride and moved around the breakfast bar to take a seat. "Right, so... I've got some news that's free of charge, no one-on-one chat with Queenie, no subtle stuff. Want to hear it?"

"Of course." Empress was intrigued by the reason Ram was permitted to speak to both of them like this, and inwardly wondered if the Elders had given her the authorization to do so. "What does it pertain to?"

"White and Rocky-Poo." Ram smiled slightly. "And for the record, I'm not allowed to get involved with anything here except for this growing clusterfuck with your girls. So anytime I come out of the blue, it's gonna be related to said clusterfuck, alright?"

"I understand. Now, what's the news?" Empress asked without taking her eyes off the horned girl.

"I have been permitted to do two things, one per girl. For White, I have what you call 'GPS co-ordinates' for her current base in Nevada." Ram's armoured hand seemed to produce a folded piece of pink paper out of thin air with a flick of her wrist. She handed it to Hex without breaking eye contact with Empress. "As for Rocky-Poo... I've been given a view of the future grandchild you're gonna have. But here's the catch; I am only permitted to answer one of these two things: Gender... or the overall pregnancy and birthing process. You only get to choose one of these two options, as much as it annoys me. Apparently the big boss said so, so I'm stuck with this as much as you are, Queenie."

"So it is a guarantee that the child will be born?" Empress asked warily, and Ram nodded. "Then I wish to savour the surprise and excitement, so I want to know about the pregnancy and the birthing... Please."

"You sure? Once it's chosen I'm gonna rattle of the answer without being able to stop for any indecision. Elders find that part very funny when us liaisons are forced to spit out a prepared statement like this."

"I am sure, yes. Please tell me about the pregnancy and the birthing." Empress nodded firmly.

"Healthy pregnancy, average length labour process with lower than average pain for her. Baby will be born a day before the estimated delivery date, no complications physically or mentally. Baby will inherit the regenerative capabilities of the mother as well as a mutual physical trait of both parents that has yet to be prepared by us, the Elders, as of this statement." Ram did indeed rattle off the words as if it were a prepared message on a computer, then sharply inhaled as soon as she finished, blinking several times to collect herself again. "See? Told you."

"Physical trait?" Hex glanced between Ram and Empress, who turned her head towards Hex and shook her head slightly.

"I don't know, and can't ask for details. I wasn't entitled to that with my two choices."

"For the record, I don't know what they told you. Us liaisions black out while we're being used as a microphone. And I won't ask, I don't need to know it."

"I do have a question for the Elders, if it is possible to even begin such a conversation..." Empress sighed, but Ram chuckled slightly.

"I am almost literally the messenger between the dimension I'm sent to and the Elders themselves. Just ask and I'll pass it along to them. If they permit me to answer it, you'll get your question replied to by them as they see fit to answer it. What's the question you have?" Ram asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I want to know what the current state of affairs is in my own dimension, Otherworld."

"Okay, I'll be right back." Ram nodded and stood from the bar stool, and faded from sight in about four seconds. After about fifteen more, she reappeared in the same fashion and sat back down. "Two options again: Verbal description or a mental vision. Either way, you'll know the big picture of how things are back home."

"Would I receive the vision like a memory in our Lifelink?" Hex asked, and Ram nodded.

"Little insider info on that one: You're gonna pass out for about two minutes to do it in the first place, so I recommend taking a seat and leaning over the counter or something like that if you do choose that one."

"If that's the case, I'll take the vision." Empress nodded and glanced at Hex, who moved towards her and wrapped their arms around each other's neck. "After last night I am allowed to make this joke and you can't stop me..."

"What joke?" Hex challenged with a cheeky smirk on her face as Empress' eyes began to close as she seemed to fall asleep with her face against Hex's cleavage.

"Mmmm... my favourite set of pillows." Empress managed to at least say her joke before she was passed out right on the spot. Hex slightly smiled at how terrible of a joke it was, despite the ringing truth to it as well, and waited out the declared two minutes until Empress stirred and opened her eyes.

"So what's up with back home?" Hex asked, glancing over at Ram, who was resting her jaw in the palm of her armoured hand, watching them without a word.

"It's bad, but not bad enough that it can't be fixed relatively smoothly." Empress sighed again as she turned her head over to Ram, without removing her arms from Hex's neck nor without lifting her cheek from Hex's cleavage either. "Thank you for that, is there another gag order on these details, or am I permitted to reveal them to my daughter and her adoptive family?"

"Gag order on the pregnancy details. Everything else is open." Ram replied. "You enjoy your pillows there, Queenie. I've got the most adorable girlfriend a few dimensions over... Mmmm! She'd be absolutely perfect if she wasn't so damn tall compared to me." Ram kissed the tips of her fingers to signify the apparent perfection of her girlfriend. "And yes, I am allowed to be in a relationship with her however I see fit... I'm not allowed to mess with anything here that isn't related to your daughters and the clusterfuck that's been going on between the two of them. Otherwise I'd have bent your middle girl over this counter a long time ago and had my way with her, y'know."

The ringing hum of a blade suddenly reached their ears, and Ram slowly glanced up the length of Beast's sword to find her glaring lividly at the horned girl despite the blazing flush of embarrassment adorning her cheeks.

"You keep your hands to yourself, mage. I don't care if the Elders personally try to stop me, I _will_ kill you if you ever dare to try it."

"See cutey, this is why I'm not permitted to do anything here except defuse the clusterfuck with your sisters. I am a raging pervert with a libido so insatiable that it would put a succubus to shame. I am also a flaming lesbian, and _you_ my dear... are just so absolutely _sexy_ as fucking hell that it's actually _unbearably_ painful. So at least give me credit for resisting my internal urges for as long as I have, m'kay?"


	53. Chapter 53

"Right, so... I want to make things very clear for you two: This is a special Portal Sphere that will automatically pull you both back here to this spot in 48 hours from when you go through it." Black Gold Saw explained over the phone. "Like we've all noted in our own transitions to Earth, time is the same here and there, so you have two days vacation, then you'll get a constant instinctive warning during the final sixty minutes before you're sent back to Earth. Now, Jonah, be warned that you are going to be doing the reverse of what the rest of us have done, so be prepared for a culture shock. Since you're already fluent, I recommend speaking Old Speak as much as possible. New Speak is still different enough from English that you might confuse any Otherworlders that you meet. Thankfully we've managed to secure a place for you both to stay for the night, it's in a medium sized village outside of the Palace's walls, the house with the star-shaped statue in front of it."

"Thanks for the help preparing this for us." Jonah smiled slightly as Rock nervously adjusted her adapter at her neck, which was now bearing some magical enhancement to remove the battery's need for daily recharging. Now, like his own bike, it didn't require recharging ever again and had permanent power. Of course it could still be turned on and off at will, it just had an infinite battery lifespan.

"No problem, you two have fun." With that, they both hung up and Jonah turned to Rock's smirk beside the Sphere, which was positioned in the middle of their bedroom at chest height.

"Ven ve get spat out on ze uzzer side, I cannot promise zat ze landing vill be gentle. Ze Sphere's float off ze ground, but ve 'ave no idea 'ow 'igh it vill be."

"Yours was about four feet high. And Strength's was about six feet off the deck of the Atlas." Jonah chuckled as they extended their hands to touch the Sphere. "Does going through hurt?"

"It's going to pull very 'ard, but uzzervise no, it's fine." Rock replied as they both touched it and immediately went lurching into the surface of the floating black ball.

* * *

With a slight stumble to regain their balance, the two of them looked around the surprisingly rustic looking house that they had been deposited in. They knew that Black Gold Saw had personally ensured the accuracy of the arrival would be within a few meters of the house itself, so to arrive this precisely was excellent for them to get their bearings.

"Right, first ve should check zat ze 'ouse is good." Rock glanced at the nearby door, which was locked with a sliding bolt, and then towards the front window in the mid-morning shaft of Otherworld sunlight. "Zen ve can check ze village for a bit, I vant to at least get a feel for 'ow zings are going on 'ere since I left."

Jonah nodded in agreement. "Anything I should watch out for while I'm here?"

"Don't start any fights, and vatch out for any guys in metal armour. zey're Guardsmen, our version of policemen. zey usually 'ave a shield and a spear or a sword, and zey 'ave at least one Guardsmen in zeir patrol zat 'as a gun or a bow of some kind."

"So that's why we've got these outfits, right?" Jonah noted the slight disguises that Black Gold Saw had prepared for them, which were neatly folded on a nearby table.

"I'm full-on Royalty 'ere, and 'aven't been seen for over sree and a 'alf years, so yes, ve're gonna vear zese cloaks to 'elp us blend in a bit better."

"Well, unless they're complex, we should just put them on now to get used to them." Jonah lifted the first cloak and draped it over his shoulders, noticing the black metal clasp went on his shoulder instead of at his throat like he'd expected. Rock's own cloak, which was the same black fabric as his, had to be tied at the neck rather than clasped like his. And as expected, the sight of her in the cloak somehow seemed so natural looking that he briefly imagined what a real, Royal outfit for her would look like.

Several minutes later, after having checked out the rest of the small house, they both opened the front door and closed it behind themselves, lifting their hoods up over their heads to shield from the bright sunlight overhead, now approaching the noon hour, as they surveyed the open rural marketplace befitting something that Jonah would expect in a fantasy game or movie.

"Oh, I remember passing srough 'ere vizz Dead Master..." Rock could tell that a few things had changed since the last time she had been here, but almost everything else was still familiar to her, so she turned to Jonah and added. "Ve stayed 'ere for a few days, so I at least know vere ve are right now."

"How far from the Palace are we?" Jonah asked as they started to walk with the citizens, mages and warriors all intermingled and happily chatting amidst the nearby vendors calling out their various wares, which all-in-all seemed that it was for a travelling group of merchants instead of just local ones.

"About six days of valking, so I'd say about a 'undred to a 'undred and fifty kilometers. Ve're much closer to ze Frontier zan ze Palace."

"Frontier?"

"It's like... ze Vild Vest back 'ome. It's vat's between ze farmlands around us and ze edge of ze Badlands. Consider it ze frontlines of a var against nature itself." Rock explained. "So zere's mercenaries and ze actual Guardsmen zemselves fighting to push back ze lines so zat zere are more places for ze citizens to live in. Reclaiming ze land, in uzzer vords."

"Makes sense." Jonah smiled slightly, passing a group of slightly younger looking girls, both mages and warriors it seemed, that were all staring directly at his face under his hood, then immediately began to whisper scandalously to each other in a mixture of New and Old Speak. Jonah could tell they were admiring him and his little flash of a smile, thinking it was towards them... It wasn't.

"I saw zat." Rock chuckled as they approached a vendor's cart to peruse the fresh produce he was offering. "You're already doing ze zing and ve're not even five minutes out of ze front door."

"Oh? What thing?" Jonah asked smoothly as he smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't be coy..." Rock turned to him with a small laugh. "You're not going to pull zat vun on me, zat's my trick!"

"Oh? I learned from the best, after all." Jonah gently hugged her around her stomach, idly placing his hand flatly, just below her navel, then smoothly kissed her underneath the jaw, earning a radiant smile from her as she returned the kiss to his mouth for a moment.

They browsed the various vendors for most of the afternoon, snacking on some of the produce that the first vendor gave them with a smile and a nod, making it very clear that it was for free when they attempted to refuse.

In fact, more than one vendor, and even several citizens had been behaving a bit differently at the sight of them sharing that kiss with each other, and after yet another elderly citizen bowed her head at them, Rock got fed up and spoke up.

"You're not ze first to do zat today, vat varrants such an action, elder?" Rock asked while Jonah stood at her side, keeping an eye on her from under his hood.

"My dear, do you not know?" The old woman asked, slightly surprised. "Come, this isn't the best place for that topic. Come to my tent, please." She beckoned to a nearby tent near some of the other vendors, and they realized she was glancing down at Rock's body at least twice during the short walk until they joined her in the tent and knelt across from her on their knees as she did the same. "I am a Seer, my name is Rikiishi Cerulean Gashima, and my dear... you are with child."

Rock's eyes went wide, and Jonah immediately turned to the old woman in shock.

"Worry not, it is quite recently conceived. Less than a week's time, in fact." The old woman smiled warmly at Rock, then continued. "And because of what I have Seen... I also know who you really are."

Rock's face twisted into a glare, but she realized that Jonah had placed his hand onto her shoulder to stop her from standing up in anger.

"Tell us more... What did you See?"

"I have Seen much, young man. The Princess here is radiating so much power that there are forces at work attempting to contain her growing power, and I see that she bears a Silence curse-rune on her tongue, very clearly done to stifle at least some of that power... Hmmm... The work of the Queen herself, it appears." The Seer lady paused and tilted her head very slightly. "I also see wings. Not the artwork on your back, but actual wings. Black, feathery and large. Not just for her, but for yourself as well, young man."

"Anything else? Or is that all?" Jonah asked, still speaking in the same level tone.

"I also see a wall of fog... purple fog, and black armour stained with blood. Nothing else can be Seen beyond these things. That is everything." The woman sighed, and glanced between them both for a full second each. "Your secret is safe with me, for I am one of the rare Gashima Seers, and I am immune to the mind invasion powers of even the Queen herself, for she has attempted to do so for the Sight I told her when I Saw your own birth nearly seventeen years ago to the day."

"Thank you, Seer, for sharing your Sight with us." Jonah bowed his head in respect, and the Seer returned it in kind as they both stood up and turned to leave.


	54. Chapter 54

"I've been wondering something, could you three fill me in on something I've noticed about Rock?" Koko addressed the three girls while they were all sitting in the living room the evening after the youngest two had left.

"Is it bad?" Strength asked, her years of protecting Rock suddenly kicking in.

"Hard to say. I've grown used to the fact she's the only one of you with blue blood, but I've noticed that she's never had her period, or doesn't seem to have any at all."

"There's a reason for that." Chariot sighed slightly, knowing this would not go over well when she explained it. "Our puberty is different than you'd expect."

"How so?" Koko's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Us Otherworld girls don't get our first period until precisely on our sixteenth birthday. Never before, never after. _always_ on the day of our sixteenth. So she'd had hers at some point on Sunday, between 12:01am and 11:59pm." Chariot explained, and immediately noticed Koko's face go completely pale as her eyes widened in fear.

All three girls warily watched her trying to process what they'd just explained, but she was too stunned to even speak, just numbly opening and closing her mouth in silence for several fruitless attempts as Chariot slowly gulped once and nodded her head.

"I know. She's pregnant."

Koko slowly reached up to grab two fistfuls of her own hair, breathing hard through her nose in a rising rate before deeply inhaling and yelled at the top of her voice.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

* * *

"Vut ze 'ell do ve do?" Rock was still trying to process everything that the Seer had revealed to them. "I'm still stuck on ze fact zat I'm pregnant, all I 'eard vas somezing about vings and power and purple fog."

"By the sound of it, your mom knows more than she's letting on. And I'm pretty sure that White's not involved with this whole power containment crap, she's been doing her own thing not linked to your power." Jonah was holding her in his arms on their bed in the house they were given for the visit. They had returned here right after their conversation with the Seer, both of them processing what she'd Seen for them.

"So vut do ve say to 'er ven ve go back?" Rock asked, clutching his hoodie in her hands, her head pressed against his collarbone.

"We'll confront her when we get back. Right now let's try to collect ourselves after the news of her Sight. Do you know anything about that Gashima thing she mentioned?"

"Seers are vut you'd call 'psychic'. Zey can see into ze future, and zey're all from a series of sree tribes from a long time ago. Like, a really long time." Rock explained. "Ze Gashima tribe is ze last tribe of ze sree zat's still got any survivors from ze var zat 'appened 'ere before I vas born. Ze Fasha and Ralo tribes vere viped out right in zeir own villages at ze start of ze var, and ze Gashima vere able to escape in time. Zey sided vith my muzzer and fazzer during ze var itself, and simply died off during ze span of ze var, so ze fact she's still alive means she's also a var veteran."

"What was the war fought over?" Jonah asked, knowing right away that her retelling the history of her homeworld was keeping her distracted from her anxiety of her pregnancy, so he kept it up.

"It's 'ard to say." Rock gulped slightly. "Ze Badlands are ze cause and ze result of ze var, it vas fought to defend ourselves from ze invading monsters at our borders. But ze vay zat zey vere organized made it very clear zat zey vere being lead or controlled by somezing."

"What was controlling them?"

"Nobody told me zat, and it's not part of ze 'istory lessons I 'ad growing up." Rock explained. "But considering zat ze Frontier vas still an ongoing battleground ven I passed srough to ze Badlands vould lead me to believe zat vutever vas leading or controlling ze beasts vas defeated. Zey no longer 'ad any organizational structure, zey became feral and vild. Like ze animals back on Earth."

"So it's a wasteland. I can make sense of that much, at least."" Jonah nodded, absent-mindedly stroking the top of her head with one hand. "So how did you manage to survive for three years?"

"I didn't let zem vin any fights I 'ad... And zen I vould eat zeir meat after zey vere dead. Cooked it vizz scrap vood zat I salvaged for a simple campfire. One meal of ze meat per day, ze rest of ze day vould be spent scavenging and patrolling ze area around ze ruined artillery cannon I lived in."

"So what about coming to Earth? What happened on the other end of the Portal Sphere you came out of?" Jonah asked.

"It 'ad been so long since I 'ad even seen one zat I didn't stop myself from touching it, and ze next zing zat I knew vas ven I got a glimpse of you, Koko and ze bazzroom zat I came out in, right before I passed out."

"And the rest of course, went as we know it." Jonah smiled as he kissed the top of her head. "How about we call it an early night and decide how we'll spend our second day here, okay?"

"Sure..." Rock nodded into his chest. "No sex tonight, I'm just... too burnt out from all of zis to even try going purple for you."

* * *

In the middle of the night, Rock awoke to the sound of movement outside of the house. She opened her eyes, scanning the window for shadows that didn't belong there. She knew someone was sneaking around outside the house, but she stayed completely still to fool them into thinking she was still asleep.

A flicker of movement at the edge of the window caught her eye, and she immediately recognized the shape of a Guardsman's helmet on the other side of the glass. He appeared to be looking past the foliage below the window, like he was hiding from something else outside.

With that realization she glanced past the shape of his helmet and noticed another shape, a quadruped one, prowling the street. It was a shape that sent a chill down her spine... She recognized it instantly...

It was one of her oldest sister's pet creatures from the Badlands. A canine-like creature known as a Deavor that she vaguely recalled was named Viir by her sister.

Viir was a unique Deavor, in the fact it wasn't feral and wild, but rather it was cunning and an efficient hunter, but also the fact it didn't have the same colour of fur as a normal Deavor. Viir was as black as Rock's own hair, so dark that it made the darkness around it seem weaker in comparison, almost standing out against the shadows themselves.

Normal Deavor were red. Bright red, like the dye in her hair.

Rock's eyes narrowed into slits. White was on Earth, she wouldn't be able to control Viir, or any of her other pets, back here at home. Something wasn't right.

Viir stopped moving, turning it's head towards the window, as if it knew she was watching through the window. Even Viir wasn't superior to a normal Deavor, but she knew from direct experience that they had good night vision, so it could likely see her... or it was looking at the Guardsman in the bushes.

Rock's direct experience with any Deavor, whether in a pack or alone, lead her to believe that Viir was also able to see her, even if it was focused on the Guardsman specifically. Their eyes were their best asset, for sure.

"Jonah..." Rock spoke up warningly, and he opened his eyes immediately, locking his gaze onto her. "Don't move, zere's a creature outside zat I know for certain is vun of my sister's pets."

"What do we do?" Jonah asked in a low voice.

"Zeir eyes are zeir best assets, and zey're like coyotes back home. Normally zey're bright red, but zis vun is special, totally black like my 'air, and my sister named it Viir."

"That's the Old Speak word for 'Hunter', isn't it?" Jonah noticed. "What's Viir doing outside right now?"

"Vatching ze vindow, zere's a Guardsman 'iding in ze bushes from Viir." Rock held her gaze on him, but tilted her head very slightly to indicate she could see them both. "Should ve vait until Viir makes anuzzer move?"

"Honestly, I say we kill Viir, but if it can somehow report back to White, then we're just broadcasting to her that we're here alone."

"And ze Guardsman outside?"

"Black Gold Saw did tell us that the windows are enchanted to be reflective. She did it herself, remember? She said this is actually her cottage, so she secured it herself."

"So... Viir can't actually see us right now..." Rock's eyes narrowed slightly and her eyes moved back to the window and saw that Viir was wandering away. "It's leaving... But I zink zat Viir noticed the enchantments... And ve don't 'ave a vay to leave early, do ve?"

"Not that I know of. This was meant to be our vacation." Jonah minutely shook his head. "But she did say that these are spells that even Dead Master and Chariot could do with realatively no fuss. So someone enchanted their new house, big deal."

"So ve take advantage of ze auto-teleport and stay outside for ze rest of zis trip. Maybe I'll feel 'orny enough for some outdoor sex? I'm not a Seer, so I can't make any promises."

"I can arrange that." Jonah winked cheekily.


	55. Chapter 55

"How long have you known?" Koko asked in a low voice, speaking to Empress across the table.

"About what? Rock's pregnancy? I clued in when I arrived back home in Virginia that night." Empress replied honestly, knowing that her gag order would prevent her from even attempting to divulge the... additional details that she knew. "I will admit that I have failed as her mother, firstly to lead her to running away to the Badlands, but also for neglecting to teach her about this very thing in the first place. Had she not ran, I planned to teach her about maturing before her fifteenth birthday, and help her prepare for it afterwards."

"Well at least we know who the father is." Koko placed the pads of her fingers against the edge of her eyebrow with a sigh. "Now, I need a biology lesson for how the pregnancies in Otherworld are structured. And of course, I'll give a comparison for us human women."

"For us, a pregnancy is not very different than humans. Hex explained it all to me for a human pregnancy already. Ours are slightly shorter, and as you can expect, the menstruation cycles are more predictable each month. Eight months instead of nine, although nine month pregnancies aren't unheard of, merely uncommon. And no, being a mage or a warrior hold no merit, since magical capability is shown after the baby is born."

"So what about the actual labour and birth itself?" Koko asked.

"Exactly the same. Painful for her, and an emotional hurricane the whole time." Empress replied with a slight smirk. "So who broke the news to you? I clued in with an undignified moment of cursing."

"Chariot told me last night, and I might have lost my voice from how loudly I yelled out." Koko smiled slightly. "So tell me... What do you think of this whole clusterfuck now that she's going to need us to tell her ourselves?"

"A mother knows their children better than anyone... and I have this strong instinctive feeling that she's at least aware of a change within herself. She knows something, just not precisely what."

"A change other than her purple powers, obviously." Koko nodded in understanding. "Which leads me to my next question... Do you have anything to say about those particular traits?"

"I can only speculate on them, sadly. I have yet to see them in action, aside from her eyes themselves and the subsequent eye flame. Yes, the colour of the flame confers a power of it's own. The blue that she and Beast possess is able to detect energy and aura. Myself as well. But my red one is able to see through illusions and objects, including mine and other people's bodies."

"What about green? White? Orange?" Koko was referring to the other girls, since she knew at least the culture of colour in Otherworld.

"Green is rare, but I do know that it's used for determining the life force of others. White flames are actually a defensive flame, almost like magical armour for the person. And orange is the eye-flame version of Rock's body's regenerative power, in which it only heals while it's lit."

"And what about White's pink one?" Koko asked.

Empress glanced to the side for a moment, biting her lip before she spoke. "White... never revealed what it does for her, so I don't actually know."

"But any other colour is proven to do all those other things?" Koko asked, and Empress nodded.

"I mean, I speak with direct experience for blue and red flames, and most Otherworlders with eye-flames at least practice with the effects to learn them and master using it. Jonah's is red, so I know he's able to see through things when it's lit. However, the different shades of red between ours has me thinking that the hue of each colour actually has a different effect than the others in the same broad colour name, such as 'red' or 'blue'..." Empress curled her fingers in the 'air quotations' gesture to signify that the two colour names were what she meant. "His eye-flame didn't give away any hints to any similarities to my own, or other red flame users I've met."

"What's the most common colour?"

"Red."

"Are they directly connected to the person's eye colour... or colours?" Koko smirked slightly at Empress' heterochromia for a moment, since it was very rare by itself here on Earth.

"Almost always, yes. Blindness doesn't affect a person's eye-flame either." Empress nodded. "Your own eyes are deep sapphire blue, just like Rock's, in fact. So I would assume your hypothetical eye-flame would be like hers and mine..." She pointed at her blue eye with one hand. "But the ancient Gashima tribe are known to have members with flames that differ in colour from their eyes themself."

"Who are the Gashima?"

"Seers. They are an old tribe able to see glimpses of a person's future. From my delvings into Hex's mind, I've gathered that the human term for a Seer is 'psychic'."

"How accurate are these Seers' glimpses into the future?"

"Guarenteed. I had one See Rock's birth about four months before my husband and I conceived her. To my knowledge, the surviving members of the Gashima tribe only number in the double digits. The one I had See for me is an old woman by now, and she's named Rikiishi Cerulean Gashima."

Koko's fingers twitched against her forehead slightly at the mention of the Seer's name. It sounded strangely familiar for some unknown reason. And with it came the mental image of the old woman herself with glittering blue eyes and a warm smile on her heavily lined face.

"Not gonna lie... that name sounded incredibly familiar to me just now." Koko sighed, trying to figure out why that was so.

"Oh?" Empress' expression shifted into curiosity, then thoughtfulness. "Hmmm... It might have been when I shared that memory about my oldest with you... The woman was present at the time of that conversation in particular."

"Yeah, that's it. Blue eyes and a really nice smile, right?" Koko asked, and Empress nodded.

"That's correct. Although since I came here to Earth I know not what she has chosen to do for herself, especially since she's also a war veteran from the unit under my direct command. A former member of my inner circle, to be more clear about what she did in that unit."

"You think she's still kicking?"

"I do, and if the two of them happen to meet her over there, then we have some very important questions to answer when they come back tomorrow morning."

"That reminds me... Didn't you and Black Gold Saw set up some sort of emergency escape method with that special Portal Sphere they're using?"

"Of course!" Empress looked almost offended for a split second. "They went through it together, so if they're separated by more than thirty feet, they'll both be forced back here to the original departure point immediately."

"And if they regroup fast enough, does that still happen?"

"It will occur if they're beyond that thirty foot limit for more than a few seconds, which is set to give them a sort of... panic or anxious feeling that they will know for sure is due to the distance. And, to be precise... their hearts are the specific points of their bodies that have the range limit's anchoring points."

"Considering that even while they're here that's an incredibly difficult, if not nearly impossible feat to pull off. I've never seen them more than twenty feet apart with my own eyes, and even THAT was here in the house." Koko laughed slightly. "I might not have one, but even I know that Lifelinks have a lot of short-range related things."

"That's true, and some long-ranged traits do exist too. I can tell you right now that Hex is awake and that she's also in a surprisingly good mood too."

"Hex? In a good mood? Sorry, but I call bullshit." Koko chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Lifelinks aren't capable of lying. And I did admit it was surprising that she's in a good mood, didn't I?" Empress smirked while also raising one eyebrow at Koko. "And that also worries me, since I have no idea what is putting her in a good mood in the first place."

"You two do sleep together, right?" Koko smirked now, and Empress nodded slightly.

"If you mean to ask if we have sex, then yes, we do. It took us ages to even realize our mutual attraction in the first place, let alone become intimate."

"So you said she's awake, right?" Koko clarified as she checked her watch for the local time, then calculated the differences in the timezones. It was the middle of the night in Virginia, since it was still early morning in Sussex. "It's a five hour difference between here and Virginia, so it's..." Koko checked her watch again. "2:38am for her, 7:38 for us here. D'you know what that means she's doing right now?"

"Clearly something she's enjoying..." Empress smirked.

"She's fapping."

"I don't know that term. I would presume it to be slang of some form?" Empress tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"It's slang, yes. Fapping means she's masturbating."


	56. Chapter 56

Upon returning to Earth by the auto-teleportation, Rock and Jonah reappeared in their room, only to find that Koko was waiting for them in their desk chair, petting Roxy in her lap as she looked up to greet them.

"I know that look." Her hello died in her throat upon catching sight of Rock's less-than-pleased expression with narrowed eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Rikiishi Cerulean Gashima." Rock replied.

Koko's hand paused on Roxy's back, which gave Roxy a chance to hop down and hurry over to Rock, oddly curious as she approached Rock's feet and looked up at her with her head tilted to the side before nuzzling her leg for a moment and trotting out of the room and heading downstairs.

"So what'd she See for you?" Empress' voice came from the hall, accompanied by her approaching footsteps with two cups of tea in her hands, hinting that she had also been waiting upstairs for them to return.

"'ow about ve stop vizz ze secrets and tell ze truzz for vunce?" Rock glared at her mother, who paused in slight confusion, blinking twice before setting down Koko's tea on the desk.

"Empress...?" Koko glanced up at the woman standing in the doorway that was clearly holding her tongue to collect herself before speaking rashly.

"Ram... If you would be so kind as to make your presence known to everyone else, please?" Empress spoke in a very clear, carefully polite tone of respect that was immediately followed by a feminine sigh behind Rock and Jonah, who spun around to lay their eyes on the unfamiliar mage girl that was sitting on their bed.

"Before you jump down my throat, kid, notice the tone and choice of wording you mom used, alright?" Ram immediately raised one eyebrow at Rock, who was baring her teeth in a snarl. "Name's Ram, I'm known as a Liaison. Been knee-deep into this whole mess for a lot longer than you'd think."

"She also knows who everyone is, so introductions aren't needed." Empress added.

"So let's start with what Rikiishi Saw. I can't read your mind like your mom can, so one of you are gonna need to spill the beans." Ram idly crossed her legs at the knee, clasping her hands on her slightly exposed kneecap and brought the sight of her silvery gauntlet with that casual action, which somehow made the request feel more in line to be a threat.

"Well, she firstly informed us that Rock's pregnant. Less than a week since conception, which would be..." Jonah began, but Ram smirked and nodded.

"The night of her birthday, I was the one that told Queenie here. See, sweetie, since you ran away when you were twelve, you missed out on some rather important information about puberty in your dimension. You have your first periods on the day of your sixteenth birthday, and that exact day of the month from then on. So your next one - if you weren't already pregnant - would be April 20th. Make sense?"

"What else was Seen?" Empress asked, noticing that Rock was still not very pleased about Ram's presence.

"She said that Rock's radiating a lot of power, and that there's forces trying to contain it... And that _you_ gave her the Silence curse-rune to stifle that power." Jonah explained, and Empress nodded, whilst also holding up one hand towards Ram, who was about to say something.

"I'll tell them." She spoke to Ram directly before turning towards Jonah and Rock. "Rock's been corrupted by the Badlands, but unlike what usually happens by exposure to the area, she's growing more powerful at a startling rate. My application of the curse-rune isn't just to mute her." She placed her tea on the desk and held up one finger, glowing with blue light. "Here is the rune." She smoothly traced the rune into the air, forming the precise shape that was adorning Rock's tongue. "And... here is the rune that's hidden underneath it... on the inside of the scarring." Empress waved her hand through the glowing rune, as if wiping away parts of the rune, which revealed another one cleverly concealed within the original...

It was a Sealing rune.

"Fuck you." Rock's expression was of utter hatred towards her mother.

"That... was my doing, actually." Ram held up her gauntleted hand. "See, if it's not obvious yet, I'm kinda sorta more powerful than your mother. So a double layered curse isn't as surp..."

Rock's hand shot out towards Ram's throat before anyone could stop her, but Ram smirked as a sound that would've been a cross between a hammer striking an anvil or striking a gong suddenly rang out as Rock's hand stopped moving about a foot away from her completely relaxed face. Nobody noticed that she'd also suddenly held up the index finger of her gauntleted hand before the impact was made.

"Chill." Ram spoke calmly, blinking once with a slight nod to her suggestion. "You're not listening, I get it. So lemme break it down for you, alright?"

Rock knew it wouldn't work, but she tried to fight against Ram's barrier for a moment until Jonah put his hand on her wrist to get her to back down.

"So... you've got a lot of power by yourself. All thanks to mommy over there." Ram pointed her chin at Empress. "And you've grown stronger by yourself on top of that. Okay? Now's the part to pay attention to. After you ran away, you acquired your first Lifelink to Dead Master." Ram was now using her fingers in front of herself to gesture out a vague timeline. "My involvement began here. I was the one that interfered with your Link to her."

"Vy?" Rock demanded.

"I'm getting to that." Ram replied before continuing. "So, after it was severed, you ran off as soon as you got a chance. Had you stayed, the Link would've reformed properly again, preventing everything from this point onward." Ram shook her finger pointedly on her little timeline. "So, three years later, another shitshow starts to form off to the side, whilst also shifting you and yours to the figurative 'back burner'. That... would be your oldest sister, White."

"How does that pertain to us?" Jonah asked with a suspicious expression.

"Timing." Ram replied. "Literally timing was what links this to you. Ironically, the key moment was when _you_ touched the Portal Sphere that Rock came out of."

"Butterfly Effect." Koko suddenly chimed in with a nod for Ram to continue.

"So, upon tracking her down to this dimension - by the way, my job as a Liaison is for entities that you would refer to as 'gods'. They're called the Elders, and _they_ work for the Authour, who I've come to call 'the big boss man' - so yeah, after I find you, I caught wind from the Elders that your mom just arrived here on Earth with your other sister in tow. So I spoke to them as soon as I had a chance. We then discussed what I was permitted to tell them - I am kinda sorta known for my um... 'unprofessional behaviour' at times, so I have restrictions while on-duty - we then agreed to back off and leave things in your respective hands." Ram glanced between Koko and Empress to indicate she was speaking about them. "So, fast forward to the day before Prague..." Ram continued, which earned glances from them all, since they all knew how monumental that incident was for them. "I sneak in a visit to Queenie here, lay out a few options that had been cooked up from my end, and told her to choose. She chose the double-layered curse-rune, muting your natural voice's direct speech ability. It was quick, painless and bought us all the time that we needed to come up with a better plan than just a magic scar on your tongue."

"You're avoiding the point, Ram." Koko noticed the way Ram was explaining things.

"I'm not. I'm breaking things down so you three..." She pointed at Koko, Rock and Jonah specifically. "Can understand things in full detail and clarity. Otherwise I'll just go back to what I was doing before I came here to eavesdrop on your intended interrogations."

"Please, Ram... Continue." Empress noticed the rare tone of annoyance in Ram's voice when she'd spoken back to Koko.

"Anyway, now that the rune was in place, I'm going back and forth dealing with your shit..." Ram pointed at Rock. "And White's shit." She gestured to the side with both hands to signify the eldest of Empress' daughters. "So, being restricted from the details of White's shitshow... we're now arriving at your birthday on this lovely little imaginary timeline." Ram brought her hands back to her little timeline gestures. "Monumental moment of it all was when you enjoyed some birthday bangin' that night. You got pregnant, which threw a wrench into our plans on my end... because your power levels shot the fuck up like a rocket... But with this, there was also a saving grace for you."

"And zat vould be?" Rock asked in a testy voice.

"The big boss man intervened directly." Ram glanced at me for a moment and gave a small bow of her head in respect for the permission to break the Fourth Wall. "Thanks sir. Now... I can't say what exactly he did for you, but yes, I do know what it is. It's going to expand your capacity to safely contain your growing power levels while me and the Elders try to figure out a way to stop all of this from blowing up in our faces... Literally."

"'Literally'?" Even Empress was confused, having been about to sip her tea but slowly lowered it with a wary gaze at Ram.

"If Rock's power isn't kept in check or given that little capacity boost ahead of any overfills... She will literally blow up." Ram shuddered slightly. "And I'm not talkin' some C4 or hand grenades kind of blow up. I'm talkin' 'bye bye dimension' blow up. She's got enough of this power in her to take out _your ENTIRE universe_ in one shot. Right now. So imagine the amount of shit that we haven't been able to calculate the detonation capability of, when reached down the road!"

All eyes went to Rock, who went pale, losing her previous anger instantly.

"On top of that, White's shit is tied into you for another reason I'm not allowed to... _Fuck_ , okay! _okay_! I get it, sir!" Ram cringed as I gave her a subtle reminder by squeezing her lungs inside of her ribs.

"What the hell was that?" Koko looked utterly confused by the sight of Ram in sudden pain like that.

"Big boss man is always watching. I almost violated one of my restrictions for this whole chat... so he started to squeeze my lungs to make me shut my mouth." Ram explained as she took a steadying breath to collect herself. "Anyway, so yeah. If we don't figure out a way to contain or even stop your power from growing, you'll destroy a whole dimension when you go boom." Ram gave a sheepish smirk towards Rock. "And it's not just gonna get rid of this one. It'll cause a chain reaction and fuck everything that the big boss man is doing."

"So why doesn't he get off his ass and fix this himself?" Koko demanded in annoyance.

 _ **BECAUSE I WILL ONLY DO SO AS A LAST RESORT, SHOULD NO OUTCOME FROM MY ELDERS NOR LIAISONS BEAR SUCCESS TO THESE CIRCUMSTANCES. CONSIDER THIS MY FINAL INPUT ON THE MATTER, RAM. YOU ARE HENCEFORTH ON YOUR OWN TO HANDLE THE SITUATION. REFERENCING TO, CONVERSING WITH, OR ANY FORMS OF CONTACT TO THE ELDERS IS NO LONGER PERMITTED. YOU ARE TO REMAIN WITHIN THE CONFINES THIS DIMENSION OR WITHIN OTHERWORLD'S CONFINES UNTIL THE MATTERS YOU ARE ASSIGNED TO HAVE BEEN CONCLUDED. HAVE I MADE THINGS CLEAR TO YOU THIS TIME? OR SHALL I SQUEEZE YOUR LUNGS AGAIN TO MAKE A POINT OF IT?**_

"Can I finish explaining things to them with my pre-existing restrictions, sir?" Ram asked.

 _ **VERY WELL. COMPLETE YOUR EXPLANATION AS YOU ARE. YOUR NEW RESTRICTION I HAVE THUS ENPLACED WILL TAKE EFFECT AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER.**_

"Thank you, sir. Now, if _that_ didn't give you a ringing sense of the urgency of this shit, I need to keep _you_ in check..." Ram pointed at Rock. "While I also map out whatever your big sis is planning to do with you for her plans for both Earth and Otherworld. Okay? Makes sense? Good. Now, seeing as I'm not going to be finishing what I was doing earlier, I have one price to tack on for this, alright?"

"And what would that be?" Koko's eyes narrowed into deadly slits.

"I was having sex with my girlfriend when you guys decided to prepare a double interrogation for each other. So I need to get off, right now, before I'm down for the count and mumbling like a lunatic on the floor with my hands down my panties. You feel me on that one? If you need me for anything else right now, you can fuck right off. I'm busy fapping. Cheers!" Ram gave a small wave of her gauntleted hand before quickly fading from sight, and the spot she'd been sitting on the bed relaxed back to normal since the mattress was no longer bearing her weight.

Koko chuckled in a low tone as she sipped some of her tea before speaking. "Enjoy it while you can... I have no idea when this so called 'chapter' of his is gonna end..."

 _ **RIGHT NOW.**_


	57. Chapter 57

For the next few days, Koko and the crew had a few small contracts keeping them busy, so it wasn't until they'd gotten back home that the news of Rock's pregnancy was revealed to the rest of the crew. And of course the guys all chuckled and congratulated Rock and Jonah, whilst Valmet's eye narrowed slightly and she became concerned for a moment.

"Since you two are from different dimensions, won't that make the baby some sort of hybrid? And, not only that, what're pregnancies like for Otherworld compared to here on Earth?"

"Empress explained everything for Koko, so except for our more predictable periods each month, the only real difference is that ours are about a month shorter on average." Chariot explained. "Otherwise, it's gonna play out just like if you or Koko were the pregnant one. Morning sickness, the cravings, hormones, all of that."

"So what about her regeneration?" Valmet asked, still unsure.

"Zat's actually going to be very 'elpful during ze entire pregnancy, believe it or not." Rock spoke up with a small smile. "I spoke vizz my muzzer vizz zat same question in mind, and she told me zat it's going to reduce most of ze aches and pains during ze pregnancy, as vell as making ze labour more bearable. Ram even 'ad a gag order revised by 'er big boss man 'imself, to let me know zat my pregnancy isn't going to be very bad at all. No major problems during ze labour eizzer. But, she vasn't able to tell me vezzer my baby vill be a boy or a girl, so at least zat's going to be a surprise."

"Can you two do any magic to reveal that to us?" Koko asked Dead Master and Chariot, since despite being specialist mages, they still could perform most magic outside of their respective Necromancy and Summoning.

"I'd need to wait for at least a month and a half to even begin considering to do it. Even magic can't determine the baby's gender at this point in her pregnancy, it's way too early." Chariot glanced over at Dead Master, who was looking at Rock's stomach with a low hum of thought.

"I might have something in my Necromancy that would at least give me a guess for the gender. Hang on, I'll go grab my father's old spellbook that he gave to me as a sort-of textbook." She stood up and went upstairs for a few minutes, then returned whilst thumbing through the pages of Old Speak runes until she came across something of interest to her. "Right here, 'While within the womb of a mother, the unborn child is yet to be of living merits. So as such, the child is technically considered to be dead and susceptible to Necromancy magics up to approximately the point in it's development that it's heart begins beating independently. Likewise, once it is considered self-aware then the possibilities of success when using Necromancy magic are drastically reduced, nearing failure in almost all further attempts."

"So you're saying until it's heartbeat begins... you can use your Necromancy on it while it's still inside of her?" Valmet asked, watching as Dead Master thumbed back several pages and found another passage.

"I can do a sort of combined Necromancy and Divination to communicate with the baby's lifeforce, and ask it questions while the magic is active. At the very least, even for a novice Necromancer like me, I can guarantee with absolute certainty that I'm able to get at least one successful question out of the lifeforce, and if these notes my father made are accurate, then I can communicate with the baby's lifeforce as many times as I'd like to. Obviously still getting at least the one question each time."

"So vat's ze process to do it?" Rock asked while idly placing her left hand over her womb, which made her promise ring glimmer in the light for a moment.

"I need to do it at nighttime... and I need..." Dead Master flipped a few more pages back and scanned the runes for a moment. "Some sort of gemstone to be used as a temporary vessel for the lifeforce itself. Any stone will work, and it'll survive the whole ritual and the occupation."

"We've got that one covered." Jonah noticed Rock's smile forming on her face as she tilted her hand slightly to bring her ring into view. "Does it matter that it's in her ring?"

"It's just gonna be a place for the lifeforce to sit inside while we talk to it. Apparently it's gonna reply in the same language that it's spoken to, so for the best results, I'd say we just use Old Speak. My father's notes are more referring to New and Old Speak, since he's not y'know... knowledgeable of Earth's existence."

"You've got everything else you'll need, right?" Koko tapped her index knuckle against her lip for a moment, thinking about the whole ritual that Dead Master would be conducting in about three hours or so.

"Has to be at night, and I'm gonna need to do it at least an hour after the sun has set on the horizon. Other than that, I just need to get a bit touchy feely with you, Rock, and your ring'll be where your baby's lifeforce will inhabit to speak to us. So let's just wait for the sun to go down and then we'll give it a shot."

"What're your percentage chances of success for doing the whole thing, hm?" Lehm asked suddenly.

"Easily over 90%, in fact the only unknown part of this for me is how many questions I'll get out of each attempt at contacting the baby's lifeforce. My father's notes suggest that each attempt for communication has a certain amount of variability to the number of questions that the lifeforce will answer each time. But, he did note that multiple contacts to the same lifeforce are much easier after making contact the first time. Kinda like calling someone and then having them on speed dial after that first call."

"Well, in the mean time, I say we get dinner started and settle down after being on all those jobs we've had." Koko sighed in relief at the high chances of success, and the reassurance that contacting the baby's lifeforce wasn't burdened with finite attempts. Rock could request that they speak to her baby every single night, if she so wished, for as many hours as she wanted each time.

* * *

After watching the sun sinking out of sight on the horizon, Rock felt a slight sense of nervousness and excitement about contacting the very soul of her child. Even with the possibility of only one question each time they contacted it, she was very pleased to know that there wasn't a limit or cooldown before trying to contact them again. Sure, it was only able to be performed at night, but that was nominal in the bigger picture, after all. And as for the gemstone to contain her baby's soul... it just made the ring on her hand feel so much more special to her, knowing that she'd been able to have her baby in her hand, however fleeting the time it was there for, and that simple fact alone was keeping her mind from creating a whirlwind of possible questions that she wouldn't be able to ask from being so overwhelmed with the possibilities. Right now, she had three questions, for sure, that she wanted to ask her baby, even if it took contacting them three separate times to do it. She wanted to know those things first, and anything after that was just pleasant knowledge.

"Hey, I'm almost ready to start. Do you want everyone to be with us while we do it, or do you want it to be just you and your baby alone to talk?" Dead Master knocked on the door to Rock and Jonah's bedroom, holding her father's spellbook under one arm.

"Just me... please." Rock shook her head as she turned away from the window that she'd been staring out of since the sun had set. "I just... it's... Y'know. _Special_."

"I understand." Dead Master stepped inside and closed the door behind herself, then sat on the edge of the bed and gestured for Rock to join her. "So, it's not a big flashy show or anything like that, I'm gonna need to put my hand over your uterus, and once I get the baby's lifeforce to accept the call, your ring will start glowing once the lifeforce is inside. Then you just ask it what you want to know, and it's gonna reply to you inside of your head. When the ring stops glowing, it's not there anymore and I'll need to call it again. Make sense?"

"I get it, yes. Go a'ead, venever you're ready." Rock nodded, shifting her hips slightly to give Dead Master some more space to put her hand where she needed it.

Without further ado, Dead Master began the spells to contact the baby's soul, her hands and eyes glowing with soft green light as she nodded at Rock before calmly placing her hand over the front of Rock's shorts and let out a slow exhale while she concentrated.

After several seconds of silence, the green light faded, only to be immediately replaced with a rising blue light, glowing brighter and brighter as Rock's ring was filled by the soul of her baby right before her very eyes.

" _What is your name, my child_?" Rock remembered to speak in Old Speak, holding up her left hand as Dead Master removed her own from her shorts and calmly observed.

" _We are presently nameless_." One voice spoke up in Rock's head, followed by a second one that was slightly different. " _But we can sense deep within yourself that our names will be of great importance to you, for you will choose to name us in honour of that fact_."

" _We? Am I not having just one baby?_ "

" _No, mother, you are not_." The first voice replied, followed by the second. " _You are having twins_."

Rock's eyes widened in surprise, and since her ring was still glowing intensely, she knew she still had questions available to her. " _And what are your genders, my children?_ "

" _I am your son_." The first voice answered. " _And I, your daughter_." The second replied right after. " _We are to be born identical twins_."

" _Will either of you be born with the powers of a mage? Or warriors, like myself?_ " Rock asked, noticing right away that the glow was now fading. That was her last question for this call.

" _I will be a warrior_." Her son replied with a faint note of pride. " _And I, a battle-mage_." Her daughter answered right afterwards. " _Both of us will be strong warriors, just like you, mother_." They both added at the same time, just before the light completely faded from her ring as their souls left.

After several seconds, Rock closed her fingers into a fist, staring directly at her ring as she felt happy tears forming in her eyes that quickly trailed down her cheeks as she smiled.

"I'm 'aving tvins... a boy and a girl." Rock spoke to Dead Master in a shaky voice. "My son vill be a varrior like me, and my daughter vill be a battle-mage, like Chariot."

"Congratulations, Rock!" Dead Master leaned closer to give her a warm hug. "If you ever want to talk to them again, just let me know, alright? Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

"Awww, such a touching moment..." A new voice suddenly sent a chill up their spines, making them hastily separate from their hug and turn towards the voice, only to come face to face with White herself.

" _KOKO_! _JONAH_!" Rock knew the capabilities of her voice adapter better than anyone, and despite being unable to speak in a whisper volume, it was certainly able to translate yelling, and yell she did.

In that small window from her yell to the approaching sounds of running footsteps, White smirked and dashed forward so fast that not even Rock with her incredible flicker-dashes could react in time. White latched one hand around Rock's throat while the other shoved Dead Master aside whilst simultaneously forming a Portal Sphere in the path of her own momentum, dragging Rock through it with her just as Jonah burst through the bedroom door and caught a glimpse of White's smirking gaze being directed at him before she, Rock and the Sphere vanished without any chance of him reaching it in time.


	58. Chapter 58

"So she got Rock and escaped in a Portal Sphere, huh?" Ram clarified the very limited information that they could offer to her as she examined the spot that Dead Master and Jonah had stated the Portal Sphere had manifested in. "Hmmm... it's got a trace leftover, but it's fading too fast for me to track down the path to the exit point. I can at least confirm it's here on Earth." Ram carefully moved her gauntleted hand in the spot where the Sphere had been. "See, a little while ago, I had been given permission my the Elders to give Queenie and Hex the GPS co-ordinates to where White's base is located. If you want, I can just manifest a duplicate of the paper I wrote them down on, or you can just call Queenie and Hex yourself and have them read the numbers off to you."

"Manifest it." Jonah replied in a terse tone, his arms crossed as he watched every single movement that Ram's gauntleted hand made. "Right now."

"It's in your pocket." Ram replied without pausing with her hand movements. "By the way, it's in Nevada. The base, I mean. I'm probing the path of the Portal Sphere and it doesn't seem like it's headed for the United States at all. In fact, I'm crossing over Germany right now, I think she's going somewhere else entirely. The US is obviously in the other direction, and she wouldn't waste so much of her magic by going the long way. Believe me, even I wouldn't dare to do that long of a trip with magic, and I'm a Liaison."

"Can you at least reach the exit Portal Sphere so we can begin to get her back?" Koko asked, also very tense as Jonah handed her the slip of pink paper with the GPS co-ordinates written on it.

"Working on it." Ram replied. "See, after being cut off to handle this all solo, I'm not as efficient as I was when I had clearance to contact the Elders. But, I am still powerful enough to do my job regardless. Got it. This Portal Sphere's exit point is in Prague, but I think she's going there to throw us off, since even she knows that you and Queenie are tight."

"So what do we do? Wait for her to gloat to us about the capture and try locating her again?" Koko asked as she tucked the pink paper into her inner suit pocket. "She was able to teleport right into arms reach of Rock without any sort of warning. And after the crap with her invading hers and Jonah's dreams, I want to know how she's able to do this shit!"

"You said it yourself, 'Butterfly Effect'." Ram finally stopped her hand waving and turned to look directly at Jonah. "Remember how I managed to let slip that your shit is linked to White's?"

"Before your boss started crushing your lungs? Yeah, I remember that part." Jonah nodded, still frowning slightly. Rock was too far for his Lifelink to work, but he knew that she was still conscious right now, at the very least.

"Well, he lifted part of that specific restriction with sending me solo." Ram explained. "She made multiple Portal Spheres throughout the Badlands to locate Rock at the time. And in doing so, she also... overextended her net, so to say. That, of course, would be the Sphere that you encountered in Brussels. When you touched it, you sent a sort of radar ping to White herself, which tagged you with a spell she put on all of the Spheres, and unfortunately, she didn't touch the one she was waiting in front of in time, and that caused Rock to be sent to yours in the bathroom instead of to her. Makes sense?"

"But I still sent White that ping. So is that what's allowing her to do all this shit with me and Rock?"

"Sort of. She's using you as a gunsight, and your Lifelink to Rock - which by the way, it totally legit, despite all the shit I did to break the one she had with Dead Master - is being used as a sort of guideline or tether to let her invade Rock's dreams and to teleport directly to her like she did here."

"Can you remove it?"

"Despite how bad this is, I wouldn't do that... yet." Koko spoke up suddenly. "Not until we figure out how to use it to our advantage before we burn a possible bridge we could've used to get the upper hand."

"That's a good point, and, Jonah, to answer your question, yes, I can remove it. I'd need to do an examination of it myself to determine if we can even utilize it like what Koko is suggesting. For now, we should tell your crew about what just happened so that they know what to expect in the near future."

* * *

The crew handled the news rather well, although the amount of anger wasn't even bothered to be hidden. White had crossed a line, and that line was the last straw. So Lehm spoke up while pinching a cigarette between his lips after Koko and Ram had detailed everything that they had spoken about upstairs.

"So White's whole plan... What can you tell us with all those restrictions of yours?"

"Believe it or not, I don't know the objective, just small details and a few unconnected dots right now. I do know that it's related to both Earth and Otherworld, and that she needs Rock for something particularly important to the whole thing. Beyond that, you guys know as much as I do." Ram explained with a shrug. "So the next part of our plan would be concerning a certain 'information network' that someone's been hiding from everyone... Right, Koko?"

Koko's eyes widened in shock as she glanced over at Ram, who was staring at Jonah's chest with a gleam in her eyes.

"How did you find out about that?"

"You forget who I work for." Ram smirked, then stepped towards Jonah, gently lifting the two charms on his chain into her unarmoured hand, staring at them knowingly. "And I also know what you've hidden inside both of their necklaces... So why don't we take your special toy for a spin, hmm?"

"What's she talking about, boss?" Lehm asked, as everyone glanced between Koko and Ram in confusion.

"I've... built something. A satellite network that's connected to a quantum computer aboard a master satellite in the network. It's called Jormungand." Koko explained nervously. "It's meant to create a subtle monopoly over global logistics, and can hack into any electronics in the world, not to mention other satellites up in orbit..."

"So what's inside our necklaces?" Jonah asked, brushing Ram's hand aside and tucking the chain under his shirt collar.

"Tracking device, all of you kids have one, it's just that you two are the first ones I made and concealed on you, because of your Lifelink's lack of long-range powers."

"So why aren't we tracking Rock right now?" Valmet asked suddenly.

"Because White's still trying to throw us off attempting to follow her. We need to wait until she stops her erratic moves and contacts us directly, which would be a hint by itself that she's no longer running around to shake us off the trail."

"Which would be when she returns to Nevada..." Jonah nodded slowly as he caught onto White's little plan. "She's going to come back and attempt to cripple us even further than just kidnapping Rock like that."

"What do you mean?" Even Ram didn't see that outcome being possible.

"You said it yourself, she needs Rock. But she knows I'm Linked to Rock, so by basic logic, I would be key to mounting a rescue, so she's gonna try to take me out of the equation once she's shoved Rock into someplace under her control, then she'll come back and deal with me to guarantee herself a checkmate."

"Son of a bitch... And since you're her damn gunsight, there's nothing we can really do to stop her, is there?" Koko scowled, which was a very rare sight indeed, causing her otherwise bright face to darken with utter menace.

"I say we let her do it." Lutz suddenly spoke up, speaking seriously. "Think about it, she's gonna get cocky since she got to Rock already, and won't expect us to even think of this secondary attack. So when she does come back, I say we lure her straight into a trap of our own."

"I see the logic, but unfortunately your _timing_ is completely off."

White's voice suddenly spoke up as she appeared completely out of thin air, not even with a Portal Sphere, as she smoothly spun on her heel and kicked Jonah right in the chest, sending him straight into another Portal Sphere that was forming behind him, and both she and the Sphere disappeared so fast that not even Ram could react in time either.


	59. Chapter 59

Jonah landed on his back with a groan, immediately scrambling to his feet to get his bearings. After several seconds, he realized that he was standing in what appeared to be an old jail cell, only faintly lit by a small sconce beside the door with a pale blue crystal giving off the light.

The door beside it was made of totally black metal, and had a sliding slot at about head height for someone on the outside to open and look inside.

The metal was what made Jonah realize where he was... Otherworld.

"Shit..." Jonah snarled, looking around for any sort of tricks or traps that White might have prepared for his arrival. Nothing was even in the room. The stone walls and floor were unadorned, there was no window, and aside from the door and glowing crystal sconce, it was completely empty.

The sound of footsteps on the other side reached his ears, and as they grew louder he detected that the person was wearing metal armour... a Guardsman. That meant he was in the Palace dungeons...

The sliding slot suddenly slid open, revealing the helmeted face of the Guardsmen that had been approaching the cell.

" _He's here. Mistress White's plans are now in motion. Be sure to keep him alive until Mistress White returns from that wretched dimension to deal with him personally._ " The Guardsman turned to speak to another that was clearly standing beside the door. " _I shall deliver the news to her myself when I return to that other place with her dedicated Portal Sphere in the throne room_."

" _And what do we do with him in the mean time, Major_?" The stationary guard asked.

" _No food for the night, only water..._ "

With a snarl, Jonah dashed towards the door as fast and as hard as he could, slamming into it and brought it clean off it's hinges as the heavy door careened into the opposing wall with an almighty crash.

"I am _not_ going through that bullshit a second time!" Jonah manifested his Cannon and his Blade in each hand and swiftly executed the two Guardsmen before they could stop him, igniting his eye-flame with a scowl as both men dropped to the ground at his feet. "Now then... time to find the throne room... heh heh heh..." He chuckled darkly as his eye-flame turned purple. "Oh, now _this_ is just what I needed..."

* * *

Rock groaned aloud, coming back to consciousness after getting hit by a spell at point-blank range from White as soon as they'd stopped jumping through Portal Spheres all over Europe. She opened her eyes, realizing that she was chained by the wrists directly to the wall she was sitting against, and after an experimental tug, she realized the hard way that White had put a spell on them to deter her from attempting to escape as she felt a sudden jolt of electricity coursing through her entire body, making her scream in agony and convulse violently before slumping forward as far as the chains would let her.

"Good, you're awake."

Rock slowly lifted her head, realizing that whoever this guy was, he was working for her sister.

"Let me guess, my sister vanted to go back for Jonah so zat nobody vill be able to use our Lifelink to find zis place?" Rock scowled. "She vants 'er checkmate, I'm not as stupid as she vould make me out to be."

"Well, you're right about that first part. She went after your boy. But as for the rest of that, I don't have to tell you shit. In fact, since you're still so inclined to give me that attitude, you're not getting any dinner tonight. Hell, no water either. How about that acts as a reminder the next time you try and get mouthy with me, little Princess."

Rock laughed suddenly, which made the bespectacled young man narrow his eyes suspiciously. "Oh, zat's so cute. Do you 'onestly zink zat vould deter me from giving you any sort of attitude? You're a 'uman, you know nozzing about my vorld, let alone anyzing about me eizzer."

"An you know nothing about what's been prepared to deal with you. Just so you know, Princess, my name's Nick. Nick Tarka Ryan, and you're going to be cursing it to Hell as soon as I walk out of that door." Ryan jerked his thumb towards the heavy double steel doors at the other end of the room. "So good luck, have fun."

"Mark my vords, 'uman... I _vill_ escape, and ven I find you, I'm going to enjoy myself ven I deal vizz you, my vay."

"See ya then, Princess." Ryan gave a cocky little two-finger salute as he approached the doors and they opened for him to exit, then immediately swung shut behind him. And in that small glimpse, Rock already had what she needed to know about immediate security on the other side of the doors.

A sudden splat caught her attention, and she looked down between her knees and saw what appeared to be a small bit of oil on the concrete in front of her. She knew right away that it wasn't actually oil, it was a trap that had been set up to keep her in check alongside the electrical shock spell on the chains pinning her arms above her head.

"Might as vell get some sleep so zat I 'ave my strengzz..." Rock heaved a sigh, since at the moment, she had nothing to work with that would even give her a chance of escaping. She had to wait for the right opportunity to wreak havoc. So with that, she closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Jonah's path from the dungeons was easy to trace, marked by blood splatters, mutilated corpses of Guardsmen and the occasional mage, and a long gouge carved into the floor that was made by him dragging his oversized Greatsword - the behemoth length was of course from his Insanity's corruption of his usual Blade - behind himself after each encounter with resistance from the Guardsmen and the mages. Likewise, his body was partially encased in black metal armour, covering both of his arms, his shoulders and the lower half of his face with a menacing mask that resembled the vicious jaws of some carnivorous beast. Likewise, his legs were covered from his feet to just above his knees, and all of his torso from his collarbones down to his knees was left exposed, save for a segmented section of flexible plates that covered his spine from the back of his neck to his above his tailbone.

Oddly enough, the creation of his armour destroyed his hoodie in the process, which left him shirtless, and somehow changed his khaki cargo pants into black ones, which seemed achingly similar to Rock's original outfit from when she'd first appeared from the Portal Sphere in Brussels. It had the same texture to it as both her longcoat and her black shorts did.

And even with all his armour, what few blows successfully struck his exposed body caused him no harm, drew no blood and didn't hurt in the slightest. In fact, some weapons even shattered on impact to his flesh!

So, armed with his Greatsword, Jonah marched through the grand corridors of the palace, too focused on his objective to bother looking at the paintings or the statues of the Royal family that were silently observing his slow, purposeful march with the grinding of his Greatsword's ever lengthening gouge in the checkerboard black and white floor.

He hadn't said a word since his eye-flame had turned purple in the dungeons, and suddenly paused his walk without turning his head, nor showing any sort of indication that he was doing it for a reason.

Turning his gaze to the left, he noticed another corridor leading towards a phalanx formation of Guardsmen with spears pointing towards his distant figure at the junction, all of them waiting for him to make a move.

Turning to face the phalanx, Jonah continued with his slow march towards them, creating a surprisingly elegant curve in the floor as his Greatsword trailed along behind him as his unwavering gaze analyzed the shield wall in front of him, noticing that the doors at the far end of this corridor were flanked by two particularly larger figures in the usual Guardsmen style of armour, each holding tower shields proportionate to their size as well as halberds, with the hilt of a sword on both of their hips.

He found the throne room.

" _HALT!_ "

The command was yelled with surprising authority, but Jonah's stride didn't even falter as he continued to approach while suddenly hefting his Greatsword onto one shoulder with one hand, his free one lazily swinging by his side as the same voice repeated the command.

" _I SAID HALT!_ "

" _I will not_." Jonah's voice radiated an almost physical force of menace that made all of the Guardsmen stagger back a step as if they had been shoved, yet unlike the Guardsmen, he wasn't yelling. In fact, his normal volume seemed to echo around the corridor even more than both of the Guardsman's shouts. " _Stand aside by choice, or die on your knees_."

" _YOU SHALL NOT CORRUPT THE PALACE WITH YOUR PRESENCE ANY FURTHER! GO BACK TO THE BADLANDS WHERE YOU CAME FROM!_ "

" _I'm not from the Badlands. I'm from Earth, and I know there's a Portal Sphere that leads straight there in the throne room, so this is your last warning: Stand aside willingly... or I will kill you all without mercy_."

" _So be it, monster! Stand firm and kill this Earth being! ATTACK!_ " It was clear now that the commanding officer of the unit was the one speaking, but with a flicker Jonah suddenly vanished from sight, not having stopped his low approach with his huge Greatsword resting idly on his shoulder.

He suddenly rematerialized right in front of their shield wall, already in the motions of his swing before they could even react, and proceeded to cleave their entire formation in half with just one swing, cutting through their shields, armour and their bodies with utter ease, then calmly rested his bloodied sword back onto his shoulder as the two giant Guardsmen thudded forward with their shields already raised to protect themselves.

Behind his toothy facemask, Jonah smirked as the two of them lowered their halberds in an obvious charging stance, and didn't react as they started thundering forward at the same time.

" _The bigger they are..._ " Jonah spoke in the same calm volume with the physical shove of menace to it, still unmoving as they were almost upon him when he finally reacted, dodging both polearms and spun on his heels to slash the vulnerable gap in their leg armour to sever their Achilles tendons with two full rotations, causing them to crash to the floor and land right onto their own weapons, killing them both instantly as the spikes on the back of the axe part pierced their skulls.

" _... 'The harder they fall', right?_ " A slightly older female voice suddenly spoke up with a giggle. " _Yeah, we Otherworlders use that same saying, y'know. Goes to show that even muscle need brains if they want to be effective..._ "

Jonah sensed it coming a mile away, tilting his sword slightly to cover his back as the female voice's owner came launching towards him from an attempted sneak attack. Her blade tinged loudly on impact before she dashed out of his reach, despite his lack of attempted counterattack as he simply turned around to face her and another woman, whom he knew was the first's twin.

Both were dressed in fitted black outfits with rather generous cleavage on full display, each had black hair and yellow eyes with the distinctive cog-shaped iris, and both of them were holding kukri-shaped blades in each hand.

" _Damn, he's hotter than she let on_." The first crossed her arms under her prominent bust with a slightly appreciative gleam to her eyes.

" _And he's packing more than just a big_ sword _too..._ " The second's gaze lingered on his groin, smirking slightly before biting her lower lip. " _Too bad Mistress White wants him all to herself, I wanna find out what he can do with that beast_."

 _"Nothing that need concern you or that harpy_." Jonah replied. " _Your_ Mistress _has been interfering with Rock and myself for too long, so if you wouldn't mind, the mother of my child is waiting for me to return to Earth. Fight me if you so choose, otherwise step aside if you value your lives even slightly._ "

" _See, you're Princess Black's Lifelink partner, you have no authority over us, we only take orders from Mistress White_." The first smirked while idly twirling one of her kukris at her side.

" _Is that so?_ " Jonah's exposed eye glinted with a flicker of red light. " _You don't have a Mistress anymore._ "

Both women suddenly grasped their heads in pain, dropping their weapons to the floor before dropping to their knees.

" _Mis... tress... White..._ "

" _I said... You have no Mistress anymore. You have a Master._ " Jonah repeated his words more forcefully, his eye now clearly gleaming with scarlet light. " _I am your Master, and you shall obey me from now on_."

" _But..._ "

" _SILENCE_!" Jonah barked, and both women fell silent, staring at him numbly. " _You will ensure that any Guardsmen that attempt to enter the throne room to stop me are killed on the spot. You will fight to the death, and shall not surrender, under any circumstances. Have I made myself clear?_ "

" _Yes... Master_." Both of them nodded as they spoke at the same time before retrieving their weapons and rising to their feet and turning towards the corridor entrance to fulfill his commands.

Jonah turned back towards the throne room's large regal doors, approaching them with the same slow march as before, and watched as they swung open just enough for him and his shouldered Greatsword to pass through unhindered, and he directed his gaze at the long, grand hall with support pillars on each side that stretched upwards into the shadows beyond the light of the glowing crystals mounted on every pillar to give the general floorspace a decent amount of light.

Of course, in the middle of the hall was a deep blue carpet that lead to the throne itself, arranged on a raised set of steps to stand out and be clearly visible.

However, Jonah already knew that there was more than what it may seem in the room, and scanned the entire hall with just his eyes turning in his sockets until the doors swung closed behind him with an echoing thud, which was when Jonah spotted the person that was waiting for him, lazily seated about halfway up the steps that lead to the throne.

" _ **I'm not here to fight you, Jonah**_." The distant figure suddenly spoke, revealing that they were male, yet were still just sitting on the steps. " _ **In fact, I've got something to tell you that you'll quite enjoy**_."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Jonah replied, still not moving an inch.

" _ **Because you've spoken to me before... You know who I am**_." The man suddenly spoke into Jonah's ear from behind, earning a mere turn of Jonah's head to address him.

"You don't ring any bells." Jonah kept his gaze on the man's face, realizing that he wasn't much older than Chariot, most likely in his early twenties, and had a full beard adorning the lower half of his face, with a cheeky smirk just barely visible under all the facial hair. He wore a rather simple black jacket with a hood, and blue jeans that had a hole over the right kneecap.

" _ **This is the first time I've revealed myself to you. Our first encounter would be when I gave Ram shit for almost breaching one of her restrictions...**_ "

"You're the Authour... the big boss man himself, huh?" Jonah clued in at that comment about Ram.

" _ **Name's Acidika**_." I grinned wider, then idly paced in front of Jonah whilst clasping my hands at the back of my head, keeping our eye contact the whole time. " _ **Now, before you say it, I told Ram that all that stuff would be my last input on the matter in general. I never said I wouldn't personally dish out prior agreements I'd made.**_ "

"The only think that makes any sense for that would be..." Jonah began, but I cut him off.

" _ **Rock's power capacity boost, yup**_." I stopped and turned to face him with a smirk. " _ **Now you're wondering why I'm here and not with her. It's because part of the problem lies within you directly**_."

"How so?"

" _ **You're a storage tank for her ridiculous power levels, so part of her capacity limit is you yourself, and the rest is within herself. It's about a 40-60 split, you being the 40, of course**_." I explained. " _ **So... to keep things from detonating from having an inbalance between the two of you, I've prepared a physical change for the two of you to provide a means of diverting all of this power into something that will not only use that power with each usage, but also extend the total capacity that the two of you can safely contain. Even better for you both is that this trait will be granted to your kids when they're both born.**_ "

"Pardon?" Jonah's exposed eyebrow shot up in confusion.

" _ **Well, had White not thrown Rock through the Portal Sphere and then come back to Sparta Kick your ass straight to another dimension, Rock would've come running straight to you to tell you what she learned from that little chat she had with the souls of your babies. You're having twins, a boy and a girl. Congrats**_."

"Why are you telling me this now? You're wasting time that could be better spent handing over that boost so I can get back to Earth to find where White took Rock!" Jonah's eyebrow sank back down into a glare.

" _ **Because context and being gifted the perfect understanding of how to use that boost so that you don't look like a dumbass when you go to get her back.**_ " I replied with another smirk. " _ **So put your Greatsword down for a sec, I'll give you the boost first, then add the full understanding on how to use it right afterwards. Okay?**_ "

Jonah hefted the huge sword from his shoulder and placed it flat on the floor without taking his eyes off me, then gave me an expectant stare.

"Well?"

" _ **What? You want some sort of gesture or indication that it's done? Fine by me.**_ " I scoffed and rolled my eyes before unclasping my hands from the back of my head and snapped my fingers. " _ **Hold up, now for the understanding on how to use it.**_ " I then clapped my hands together once, then clasped my hands back where they were on my neck. " _ **Satisfied now?**_ "

Jonah's large black feathery wings came into the light of the nearest crystal on a pillar as he bent to retrieve his Greatsword without breaking our eye contact. With it also revealed the structure of his torso and back had changed to accomodate the wings that now rose from his back, giving him a more barrel-chested physique than before, and of course the spinal armour fit perfectly between the wings too.

"Are you going to make another speech? Or can I finally go back to Earth to try and find Rock?" Jonah asked as he dismissed his Greatsword in his usual flash of scarlet light, with an undertone of purple for a split second.

" _ **Tell you what... I'll be nice for once and send you straight back to Koko and Ram, plus I'll buff your Lifelink with Rock, so that your long-range detection for each other isn't utter crap. Rock's currently in White's Nevada base on Earth. The one that Ram gave you guys the location of.**_ " I replied with a nod of my head.

"Wait... Send me there... how?"

" _JONAH_!"

With a thudding sound as she collided with his resilient torso, Koko had all the makings of a distraught mother on the verge of utter hysteria as she held him at arms length to take in his appearance.

"What happened to you?!" Koko demanded, since it was painfully obvious that Jonah wasn't the same Jonah as the one she'd seen get kicked in the chest about an hour and a half earlier.

"I met the big boss man himself... and I know exactly where Rock is, he improved our Lifelink's long-range powers, all for free." Jonah replied. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go get our Princess back where she belongs."


	60. Chapter 60

"Vat do you vant now, 'uman?" Rock asked without opening her eyes when she detected the sound of someone's foot scraping against the concrete a few steps away from her. The sound of the doors opening had woken her up, but she didn't bother to lift her head since she knew it was that Ryan boy coming back to be a dick. She felt incredibly sore for some reason, far too much for having slept while sitting with her arms chained over her head to a concrete wall.

" _ **Not exactly. I'm not him, Rock**_."

Rock did indeed recognize the voice immediately, and of course she lifted her head to come face to face with me, standing in front of her with my hands in my pockets.

"Oh, ze big boss man 'imself is gracing me vizz 'is presence. Such an 'onour." Rock smiled in a slightly taunting manner. "Vat are you 'ere for? I ssought zat you vouldn't be giving anymore input until I'm about to make everyzing explode in your face."

" _ **Jonah said something similar in the last Chapter**_." I smirked. " _ **But I'm not giving any new input at all. This was arranged before that conversation between myself, Ram and yourselves**_."

"You mean zat capacity boost for me, don't you?" Rock asked with a raised eyebrow.

" _ **Yup**_." I replied with a nod. " _ **It's also coming with instructions and an improvement to yours and Jonah's Lifelink's long-range powers. Package deal, so to say**_."

"Vat is it?"

" _ **Physical attribute that uses your growing power level as an energy source to function. Big, black feathery wings, and the adapted muscle structure in your upper body to handle it**_." I explained. " _ **And, of course, like your mother's linguistic gift of Old Speak that she gave to Koko, Jonah and the whole crew, this also comes with perfect understanding on how to use the wings from the get go. And lastly, the boosted Lifelink powers are for when the two of you aren't on the ground, which is rather obvious in the necessity it holds**_."

"Does it 'urt?"

" _ **No, it's already done. Chains are gone too. Consider it my special treat considering what White's been trying to do to you while you were sleeping earlier**_." I smiled slightly. " _ **But, as already stated, I can't provide anything else beyond that, since it would violate my own declaration. Good hunting on the way out of here. Nick Ryan's on his way here right now, so you enjoy yourself, Princess**_." I tilted my head in a slight bow while Rock slowly stood up from the floor and gave her wings an experimental stretch, since the change in her torso muscles structure also had an effect on her bust size, making her bra quite uncomfortable. " _ **Oh, sorry about the bra, I'll fix that for free. My mistake**_." I snapped my fingers, and Rock sighed in relief, just as Ryan came through the doors behind where I had just been standing a nanosecond beforehand.

"Oh _shit._.." Ryan backed out of the doorway and started to try and run, but the next thing he knew there were razor sharp claws dripping with blood being held at his neck, and all around him was Princess Black Rock Shooter's strange new wings, trapping him even if he somehow managed to escape her direct grasp he was currently the victim of.

"Shhhhh... Big boss man's gonna have to censor what I'm about to do to you, human..." Rock's other hand, bearing the same bloodied claws as the ones at Ryan's neck, plucked the voice adapter from her choker, now free from the effects of the dual curse-rune that had muted her since October. The stifling effects that it had produced were no longer efficient enough to bother keeping active now that her wings expanded her capacity to contain her power levels. "Thanks for giving me my voice back too, sir."

* * *

"Why haven't I received confirmation of Jonah's arrival in the Palace dungeons?" White demanded to a Guardsmen that was kneeling in front of her desk.

"It is presently unknown what has delayed the delivery of that message. Shall I send a runner through the Portal Sphere, Mistress?"

"Yes. You do it yourself and report back to me in ten minutes time." White ordered, waving her hand to dismiss the soldier. "Hmmm... Unless he's giving the Major a hard time, the only possible reason that this would be delayed would be if Jonah actually found a way to escape the spell on the cell's door before it had fully charged..."

She shook her head dismissively. "Impossible, there's no way he could have done that. I made sure the spell was tailored to his power level from the moment my foot made contact with his chest! Something's not right here! GRAH! WHAT'S INTERFERING WITH MY PLANS?!" She slammed her fist onto the desk in frustration, seething with rage as she began tapping her index finger on the surface, thinking hard. "Ryan just went to check on my sister in her cell... Jonah is potentially running free within my Palace... my mother is still unaware of my surprise attacks on the two of them... that Koko woman is still in a panic at this point since I foiled their plan to lay a trap for my returning strike on Jonah... Something isn't adding up here! There _has_ to be another factor involved somewhere... but what is it?!"

Ten minutes passed, and White realized that the Guardsman she'd sent to check on things in the Palace hadn't returned, and that made her realize that Jonah was indeed running amok in the Palace, and more than likely killed both the Major and the runner just now... But why was his tracking spell informing her that he was still in England at this very moment...

He'd made it all the way to the throne room and returned with the very Portal Sphere that the runner had just come through... But that would mean he'd have arrived here, in Nevada, not England!

"No matter... I shall deal with my sister myself... I _will_ sunder her Lifelink to Jonah into myself, for sure this time! No matter what it takes!" She stood up and marched out of her office in a huff, the door slowly swinging shut behind her to reveal that Ram had been hiding behind it the whole time eavesdropping on her one-sided conversation.

"Sir... Gonna need you to pass that along to everyone for me..." Ram's eyes narrowed before she faded from sight to start following White.

* * *

"You could have informed me immediately, then I could have saved Acidika the trouble of making a personal appearance like that." Empress grumbled as she drummed her fingers on the shaft of her mace, standing in her Royal gown and armoured cloak with both Black Gold Saw and Beast standing at her sides, whilst Hex was leaning over Koko's shoulder examining the live satellite view on her laptop of White's Nevada base, courtesy of Jourmungand.

"He said it was already arranged to happen." Jonah shrugged slightly, keeping his wings tucked against his back to save space around himself as he loaded rounds into his FNC's magazines in preparation for the attack on White's base to rescue Rock. "Besides, what good would you be able to do? These wings are for both Rock and me, and they're that capacity boost Ram mentioned when he did that weird voice thing when we got back from Otherworld."

"Still... I don't approve of being left out of the crutial moments of such a drastic event, especially since Ram disappeared ten seconds after I arrived here, without even stating why she was leaving."

"She hadn't said anything for a few minutes, just stared at that metal glove the whole time." Lehm commented from the front door, where he had the door wide open to have his smoke while still remaining part of the conversation.

" _ **That's her Cortex. It's the universal tool of all of my Liaison**_."

"Back for more, Acidika?" Jonah asked without looking away from his bullet loading, yet everyone else turned to stare at me for my sudden arrival.

" _ **Ram's just found something important, asked me to pass along the news so that she doesn't miss anything going on at the base**_." I explained. " _ **And since I'm merely relaying a message, I'm not violating my own declarations**_."

"Who the fuck are you?" Hex demanded, being the first to vocalize the obvious question hanging in the air.

" _ **Acidika. Ram's boss. I'm the Authour, but in terms that make sense to you all... I am the literal god of this multiverse, which Earth and Otherworld are just two parts of**_."

"You look like a scruffy teenager with jeans and a jacket to me." Valmet scoffed at the sight of my rather ridiculous facial hair.

" _ **And you look very cute in that Playboy Bunny outfit, Sofia Valmer**_." I replied without bothering to apply any sort of action or gesture to go along with spontaneously changing Valmet's current attire to the iconic fishnet stockings, high heels, fitted bareback black leotard-like outfit, complete with the attached white rabbit tail, rabbit-eared headband and the bright red mini-necktie with the stiff white false-shirt collar around her throat with the matching shirt-cuffs with the Playboy Bunny logo on the golden cufflinks themselves.

"Wait, what?" Valmet looked down and realized what I had done. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"We get it, just please give her back her clothing so we can hear what Ram learned in Nevada." Koko heaved a sigh loudly, sparing me only a brief glance that easily gave away the 'I hate you so much, but I love what you just did' in her eyes that she was trying to hide with a forced serious expression.

" _ **White's attempting to do something that only the Elders or myself can perform with any reasonable chances of success, which is to steal and integrate a Lifelink into herself. Specifically, she's going after Rock to take over being Lifelinked to Jonah**_." I tilted my head towards Jonah, which was also the gesture that gave Valmet back her clothing... but the Playboy Bunny outfit wasn't eliminated. It was sent to a specific hiding spot upstairs for Koko to find at a later time. And in that same head tilt, I glanced at Koko and made sure she alone received the awareness of what I'd done with the lingerie. She didn't outwardly show it, but I knew she was grateful for the gift.

"Can't you stop her?"

" _ **I've already made it very clear by establishing it as canon that I would only make a move if none of you can find a way to stop Rock's power levels from ever reaching the limit of her capacity. My giving her and Jonah these wings was arranged before I declared that in Chapter 56. And as such, unless rectifying my own mistakes, which did happen when I gave Rock her wings earlier, the only means to which I can uphold my own canon is when I provide benevolent gifts to individuals as the Authour. I'm otherwise restricted by my own actions in Chapter 56, as I have already stated to be canon**_."

"But you're skirting the edges, and you know it." Empress frowned slightly.

" _ **I do indeed, Empress**_." I replied with a smirk. " _ **But unlike what it might seem, I'm not once providing new input on the major issue at stake here, which is to find a way to stop Rock's power levels from rising so that my entire multiverse doesn't implode upon itself. I've already got enough fucking problems bogging me down with the Syndicate! And I can already smell the imminent finale approaching for this Insanity. So if it fucks up now, it fucks me up from now on! Have I made my point any fucking clearer yet?!**_ " I heaved a sigh as I put my hands onto my hips. " _ **Oh, and the dual layered curse-rune isn't enough anymore, the percentage of the growth rate that it suppressed for Rock isn't valid anymore now that her total limit was increased by her wings, which by the way, drain her power levels instead of just reducing the growth rate, so congrats... She's got her actual voice back. And no, she found that out herself, I didn't reveal it to her. The rune just stopped working**_."

"Hey, before you dick off somewhere... Can I ask you for a favour?" Jonah asked suddenly.

" _ **Let me hear it first, then I'll choose whether to accept or decline it**_." I turned my jead towards Jonah expectantly.

"Can you get all of us geared up, on a plane, ready to start attacking White's base? Or does that violate your 'canon' crap you mentioned from that Chapter 56 shit?" Jonah stared me right in the face without his eye-flame lit, so everyone could tell that he was looking my way while he made the request for a timeskip.

" _ **It's skirting the edges again... But this Chapter is almost finished anyway. So for you guys here, I'll do that for you with all your usual guns and gear at the ready for you on the plane in a moment. But you guys reading it however... are gonna be stuck waiting for the next Chapter, because that's it for this one**_." I winked at you cheekily. " _ **Until then, enjoy the cliffhanger~!**_ "


	61. Finale

White rounded the last corner before the cell that she had put her sister in, coming to a sudden halt as she inhaled a distinctly metallic scent...

Blood.

She glanced up and saw a black shape about a third of the way from the end of the corridor. It appeared to be a large bird, with the wings shifting slightly as it appeared to be eating a corpse that was just out of her view, blocked by the their sheer size.

Knowing that it wasn't part of her own menagerie of pets, White's eyes narrowed as she scanned the rest of the corridor, and found the slumped over corpse of a Guardsmen very near to the bird, with vicious claw slashes at his chest and throat.

But as she stared at the creature, she wasn't able to confirm what it was at all. No Earth avians were _that_ big, and no confirmed species from Otherworld even had black feathers, let alone grew to such a size either! It was clearly a mutation brought about by Badlands exposure, and might have simply flown through the dedicated Portal Sphere in it's original size before mutating at some point here in the cellblock before her arrival.

With that as the most plausible explanation, White slowly began to approach the large bird, trying to remain silent since she didn't know if it had gained the powers of a blue eye-flame when it mutated, so trying to use magic would possibly give herself away.

"I can hear your heart pounding in your chest from here... Sister." A surprising voice spoke up from behind the wings, and the thing spun around with a flutter of loose feathers drifting down to the floor, revealing her sister with long black claws, that - like her face - were dripping with red blood. "Back for another attempt for your little plans?"

"How did you...!? What's...?! WHAT THE HELL?!" White was struggling to comprehend what she was seeing. Rock had _escaped_?! and she had _wings_?!

"You wouldn't understand, and I don't feel like wasting my time explaining." Rock smirked slightly as her tongue poked out to lick the last of the blood from her lips as her eyes turned purple while she then licked the flat sides of all of her claws before finally continuing to speak. "So you gonna just stand there? Or can I just go back home now?"

"You still don't seem to know as much as you think you do, sister." White grinned suddenly, a twinkle in her eyes catching Rock's gaze. "What have you done to Ryan?"

"I enjoyed him. My way." Rock tauntingly arched her eyebrows at the same time, twice in rapid succession. "So what's this adorable little black goo that you're trying to sneak up behind me?" Rock stepped off to the side as she pointed her thumb at the approaching black liquid that was slowly snaking along the floor towards her. "Slow it down anymore and it'll just solidify into a brick."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong. You still don't seem to understand the sort of predicament that you're in." White gloated, returning her gaze to her sister, who put her clawed hands onto her hips and sassily strutted towards White with the same cockiness in her smirk as her walk.

"Doesn't seem to be going any faster to me. What? Are _you_ gonna stop me instead?" Rock challenged, not realizing that the black goo was smoothly accelerating across the floor behind her and had already passed Ryan's corpse before she had spoken.

"No. I'm not. I don't need to." White replied smoothly. "I'm just going to enjoy the show before you catch on."

"Enjoy it while it lasts." Rock waved a hand dismissively over her shoulder as she furled her wings while shrinking them down to their smallest active size, and continued to walk down the corridor seemingly unopposed, yet still being chased by the still quickening black goo on the floor, which had just passed where White was still standing when Rock spun on her heel to taunt her sister one last time when she caught sight of how quickly the goo was now moving.

" _Shit_!" Rock spun back to the end of the corridor and started to sprint, which caused the goo to rocket forward and launched itself through the air to splatter all over her lower back and thighs, causing her to stumble and fall to the concrete in a long slide that was clearly decelerated by the goo that was now covering her legs completely and inching up to her ribs and her wing joints.

Rock couldn't twist her body around to try fighting it off, it felt like she was being encased in metal, not liquid, and the speed that it had attacked her with made her realize that White had prepared it especially for when she managed to escape the cell... the further she got, the faster _it_ got to catch her... and of course it caught her the moment she tried to sprint away from it.

Now encased up to her chest and about a third of the way over her wings, Rock was starting to have trouble breathing. Fighting her natural instincts to continue breathing normally, she expanded her lungs with as much air as she could take in before the goo reached over her whole chest and started coating her throat in seconds. By now her wings were completely covered, and the last exposed part of her body was her head, watching White approaching into her field of view with a falsely sweet smile on her face.

"Oh, I definitely enjoyed the show. Thank you for the display, sister." White taunted as Rock suddenly passed out from the spell White had in her hand, just before being completely encased within the goo. "Containment. Keep her alive, and I allow breathing. She isn't allowed to move on her own. Now, take her back to the cell and position her on her knees with her arms behind her back. Oh, and restrain those damn wings too." She ordered to the living metal covering her sister on the floor, and after a faint hiss near the part around Rock's face, the mass of metal started to smoothly slide along the floor back to the cell while White reached into the back pocket of her shorts and produced what appeared to be a silver metal ball with the same oil-like shine that the black metal had. "Activate. You will entrap her mind with a relevant mental illusion by sexually manipulating her body. I shall return later with further instructions." She then tossed the silver ball in the direction of the black metal, and when it contacted the concrete it didn't bounce, but rather slithered in a snake-like shape in pursuit of it's darker counterpart.

* * *

"Why is there a 122 mil cannon in here?" Mao asked warily, since just as I had promised, they were all geared up and aboard a plane - specifically Koko's cargo plane from earlier in the story - that was already flying over Nevada en route to White's bunker base.

" _ **Got it loaded with a flechette round to take out her exterior security forces**_." I replied from where I was leaning against the side of the cargo hold with my arms crossed and one foot raised to rest at knee height on a small ledge. " _ **You're the former artilleryman. You handle the shot, then we'll all jump out after it to storm the bunker and mop up the survivors from the 6000 darts packed inside the shell**_."

"We?" Beast leveled a glare at me. "Why the hell are _you_ coming with us?"

" _ **Jonah didn't ask for parachutes**_." I replied with a cheeky smirk. " _ **So unless you all want to go splat, I'll be joining you for however long I see fit**_." I replied, whilst also uncrossing my arms and tugging the zipper of my jacket open to reveal that I had a shoulder holster with a familiar Colt M1911a1 tucked inside. " _ **Besides, a certain someone's gonna need this when we find her.**_ "

"You don't deserve to use that!" Jonah boldly grabbed me by the collar of the black shirt I had under my jacket and confiscated the gun. "If anything, you should be using a fucking normal flintlock! No magic, no tricks. Just gunpowder and a little ball of lead."

" _ **Fine by me. Shall I even reload it manually too?**_ " I smirked, brushing his arm aside with a casual wave of my hand between us. " _ **It's only got eight rounds in it. But knowing her, that's more than plenty.**_ "

"And what about her shotgun? Koko's got it." Lehm asked, cradling his Colt Model 733 against his chest after watching the exchange between Jonah and myself.

" _ **I left her a present just outside of her cell. She's not going to be able to escape for a little bit... Something's trapping her and even I'm having a hard time figuring out what the hell it is. It's definitely not something that originates in MY multiverse**_."

"She got ahold of something from another dimension?" Koko sighed, since she was also going to be joining the attack, and was indeed presently carrying Rock's customized Remington and even had Rock's gear belt and plenty of shells to go with the weapon, so she accepted Rock's Colt from Jonah and shoved it into the awaiting holster on her hip while I opened the other side of my jacket to produce the flintlock pistol I would be using.

" _ **Dimensions are the equivalent of a county. A multiverse is the country that they're in. I would be the President or Prime Minister... or the Monarchy...**_ " I nodded towards Empress for a moment. " _ **That controls the whole country. Within those borders, I have absolute power. But White's managed to get some fucked up shit past Customs and I have no clue what the hell it even is**_."

"So that's why you're joining us... You want to get your hands on it." Chariot scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What, because it's foreign you have no power over it?"

" _ **Not as much as I would like to have, believe it or not**_." I replied, clicking the hammer back on my pistol into the firing position, since I had manifested it already loaded. " _ **We're ready to fire the 122 in ten seconds, when Mao fires it, just run straight off the ramp, I'll make sure you don't miss and definitely don't go splat either. Alright?**_ "

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you're not serious." Beast strode forward and grabbed me by the shirt, just like Jonah did. I finally revealed my eyes, opened them, and leveled my glowing solidly green gaze at her blue eyes behind the cyan eye-flame and spoke in a level, matter-of-fact tone.

" _ **I am god of this Multiverse. Altering a group's individual interactions with the laws of physics is actually more complex than it might seem. You won't feel a thing on contact with the ground, and the freefall will last about 14 seconds. If you want to try using a Portal Sphere to reappear on the ground, then you'll have to wait until the darts from the shell have made contact, otherwise this...**_ " I flicked my index finger against the front of her crown, causing it to tilt backwards on her head. " _ **...Won't be the only spiky thing on your body, Beast.**_ "

As I said that, the rear ramp began to lower, tilting the long barrel of the 122mm cannon into position, and Mao dutifully sighted the target for a few seconds before grasping the firing mechanism.

"If you're fuckin' with our physics, better do it for the shot too!" Mao called out to me, and I gave a thumbs up with my free hand, whilst using the flintlock to swat Beast's hand off my shirt like I had done with Jonah's earlier. "Firing!"

With a muffled thud and a flash from the end of the barrel, the cannon rocked back slightly as the shell - as I had already directed it to do - flew perfectly over the desert in line with the distant bunker entrance, and with that, everyone, including myself and a very displeased Beast, hurried to jump out of the ramp just as I had instructed.

* * *

Rock blearily opened her eyes, her vision and hearing still incredibly fuzzy and disoriented. When it did finally clear, she came face to face with Jonah laying on his side in front of her on their bed, idly caressing the pads of his fingers over the skin of her hip and thigh, whilst his other hand supported his raised head on his pillow.

"Did I wake you?" He asked, still absent-mindedly caressing her skin. It was at this moment that Rock realized she was only wearing her panties and a tank top that had half-risen up her torso to expose most of her stomach and lower back, whilst there was a blanket covering her from about mid thigh down.

"Where...? Where am I?" Rock took a moment to find her voice, her throat incredibly sore after being caught in White's strange goo trap... Hang on... "This is an illusion. You're not where I really am!" Rock smacked his hand away as she scrambled out of the bed. "You're not Jonah!"

"Course I am!" Jonah looked surprised. "Can't you sense our Lifelink? Are you feeling alright?"

"This isn't real." Rock glared at the fake-Jonah lividly. "You're _not_ the real Jonah!"

"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Jonah slowly got out of bed and stood up, but Rock snarled aloud.

" _T_ _his_ is the nightmare! You're a fucking illusion that my sister is using to distract me from trying to escape again!"

"You're not in a nightmare. White's not here, you're safe." Jonah moved closer with his arms out to give her a hug, but she viciously shoved him backwards, which caused his shirt's buttons to tear open, revealing his completely barren chest. "I knew it!"

"What's wrong?" Jonah asked in utter confusion. "What happened? Talk to me!"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna fall for this shit anymore." Rock scowled, realizing that she couldn't feel her wings, as if they weren't even there. "My real body isn't like this, and it's trapped in a cuccoon of black goo that feels like it's made of metal. I'm in a military bunker somewhere in the state of Nevada, in the United States of America, on Earth, within Acidika's Multiverse! You are not real, there are details missing from both myself and whatever the fuck _you_ are. This is an illusion, based on out-of-date reference material, and it's not going to stop me like White thinks it will!"

" _ **Good job, Rock**_." A new voice suddenly spoke up behind her, and she recognized it right away. " _ **You're completely right, it's all an illusion and forced fantasy inside your own head. Your awareness of the fact, and by also directly stating my name, are what's letting you resist the effects of the delusion**_." I explained as everything else froze around us. " _ **Now, unfortunately, I can shatter the whole think in your mind, but that goo you're being trapped in isn't originally from my Multiverse, so I can't do anything to it to get you out. All I can say is that it'll let you breathe safely, but trying to move will not work. It's a physical trap after the illusion's broken**_."

"Do it. I have an idea." Rock smirked. "Is Jonah on his way to get me out of the bunker?"

" _ **Everyone. Myself included, although I am more interested in the goo you're stuck inside than being a part of the whole assault. Jonah even made me join the fight with a flintlock because of it**_."

"Good. Now give me my mind back to myself." Rock nodded with a determined grin forming on her face.

" _ **Good luck... Oh, and I left you a gift just outside of the cell's door. Enjoy!**_ " I gave her a nod as everything around her shattered like glass, causing total darkness to engulf her as she briefly passed out.

When she came back to, she immediately felt something forcing her mouth open, and after a moment realized that it was reaching partway down her throat in a mockery of a deepthroat blowjob. And that brought forth an instinctive gag as the rest of her body came back to her, synchronizing back together with her mind, and bringing with it a sudden bombardment of sensations and awarenesses that briefly disoriented her as she suddenly started choking on whatever was going down her throat, and likewise instinctively clenched around the other two that were respectively in her ass and vagina.

Rock twitched and shuddered within her cuccoon, completely clear-headed despite what was clearly happening to her. The illusion only affected her mind, it needed physical stimulation to make it seem plausible enough to fool her in the first place. And now, having been freed from it, it wasn't working properly and was causing the three intrusive objects - she was pretty sure it was the goo acting like a trio of tentacles to function like dildos - rapidly withdrew from her various orifices as fast as they could. The one in her mouth made it's hasty retreat whilst accompanied by a faintly wet splat from the saliva covering it as she coughed roughly before gasping in lungfuls of air for the few seconds that her mouth was still exposed by the opening in the black goo that otherwise covered her entire body, wings included, save for the already sealing hole between her legs to get into her panties through the small gap between the hem of her shorts and her skin at the cleft between her thighs.

But, as soon as she had the air she needed, the goo started to slowly force her jaw back closed by knitting the opening closed over her mouth, then opened two small holes over her nostrils once the mouth hole had sealed.

That was exactly what Rock expected to happen. The goo, having caught her earlier, was not going to let her escape again, and would do so by only opening holes where need be, instead of releasing her within the cell itself.

And, now that the other part that had been given access - probably a separate batch of the stuff, or a variant with different functions than a physical cuccoon - she was free from the attempted molestation since it had escaped from her body when she broke out of the illusion with my assistance. Now all she had to do was get out of the cuccoon batch...

And that was the easy part... Just slightly more time consuming in comparison to breaking the illusion.

* * *

After the flechette darts had done their task, everyone landed on the ground feet first and immediately brought their weapons up to check for surviving personnel, who save for myself, Jonah, Empress, and the girls, didn't recognize the armoured corpses that littered the fenced compound.

"Are these her troops?" R crouched over the nearest corpse, noting the man within was dead from two darts impaled in the side of his neck, which was clearly a design flaw for their armour.

"Guardsmen are what they're called. These men are basically the grunt troops of my army." Empress explained, noting that there were survivors, wounded and also not so, scattered all around. "What concerns me is why they're outside of the bunker like this. Acidika, did you have a hand in this?" She turned to me, but I shook my head.

" _ **Ram's been keeping an eye on the place, and she was the one to inform me that there were so many of them out here, which is why I chose to use the flechette round**_."

"I will have words with you after this is concluded." Empress frowned slightly, then strode forward and thudded the end of her mace-staff on the ground. "Guardsmen! Your Queen demands your attention!"

The survivors all turned towards the sound of her voice, aghast by her sudden arrival seemingly out of no where, and they realized that it was indeed their Queen, so they hastily got to their feet and stood at attention.

"I require the highest ranked officer to approach me and start explaining what has transpired in my absence." She ordered with a not-very-impressed expression on her face, then watched a sole Guardsmen limp over to her as quickly as he could, then - despite his leg injury - knelt in front of her and bowed his head.

"I am Captain Silver Xivarius, your Highness."

"Start explaining." Empress ordered while she stared down at him.

"Lady White informed us that we were to provide her with our duty-bound services to protect her while she conducts a project for her magical research, and have since been standing guard around and within this establishment as ordered. This has been our standing orders since our initial arrival in this realm, your Highness."

"Are you the only detachment of Guardsmen she brought here?"

"No, your Highness. She has also bolstered our numbers with a detachment of the Royal Guard direct from her personal unit."

"You mean the Honour Guard, don't you?" Empress' eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes, your Highness. A dozen high-mages and about fifty elite soldiers of her own choosing."

"And where is she now? Within the facility or has she gone off somewhere?"

"My apologies, your Highness, I do not know where Lady White currently is."

"Very well." Empress let out a short exhale through her nose. "Black Gold Saw, see to their wounded at once. Your orders, Captain, will now be from myself and the individuals you see gathered behind me. For you have been deceived by my daughter, and will now stand with me, as you are duty-bound, whilst I make certain to crush this attempted coup."

"Understood, your Highness!" The Captain rose to his feet and clenched his fist over his chestplate, which was clearly a salute to her. "May I ask a question, your Highness?"

"You may." Empress nodded once as Black Gold Saw rose from a ripple in the ground with her hands on her hips, clearly already aware of her task from the summons.

"Have you been held against your will, or are these persons allies?" The Captain turned his head slightly towards Jonah in particular, since his purple eye-flame was clearly visible, as was his black armour and wings.

"They are my friends, my most trusted companions... and one is also my Lifelinked partner. You can trust them, without a doubt." Empress replied, smiling very slightly. "Now, see to your wounds, gather your arms, and prepare for battle."

"Understood, your Highness!" The Captain gave his salute again and curtly spun on his heel to join with the medical attention of his surviving men.

"Acidika... Those words I mentioned we'd be having..." Empress them turned to me with a glare. "Revive my fallen soldiers and bring them back up to speed for what is to be done here."

" _ **You're clearly not asking for this as a favour**_." I chuckled. " _ **But after seeing you take charge like that, I'll let it slide... Just this once**_." I snapped my fingers and caused the dead Guardsmen to all rise from the ground, unharmed and already aware of what had been said, as they gathered their weapons and fell into rank before their Queen.

* * *

White returned to the cell and opened the heavy metal doors with a wave of her hand, letting them swing shut behind her as she laid her gaze upon the black sentient metal cuccoon that was encasing her little sister at the back wall. She idly noticed that the second living metal, the silver one, was laying on the floor between her sister's knees in the ball form, which suggested that she wasn't under the forced sexual fantasy she'd ordered it to give her.

"Containment, uncover her face and ears so I can speak to her." White ordered, and after several seconds of silence, she repeated the command. "I said, uncover her face and ears!"

Nothing happened again, and White's eyes narrowed slightly. Why was it being defiant to her commands?

The cuccoon shifted slightly, causing the slightly undulating surface to noticeably ripple from the floor up to the top of her head and wings, which made White tilt her head warily, waiting out the possibility of a merely delayed response.

With another ripple, she noticed that the cuccoon's surface was no longer the oily texture it had earlier, but was clearly metallic in the way it reacted with the lights overhead. In fact, the entire black surface looked less liquid-like than when she'd entered the cell!

"So... you can hear me from inside of it anyway, sister." White smirked as she crossed her arms and slowly walked the few paces forward and bent forward to pick up the living metal ball, which despite being inert, was the exact same as when she'd taken it out of her pocket earlier. "Good. Now I don't have to worry about letting you talk back to me."

The cuccoon visibly shifted around Rock's head, like she had just dramatically rolled her eyes.

"You see, I have been granted a power so great that the gods themselves are beneath me. And with this power, I have chosen to sunder your Lifelink to Jonah, to take it away from _you_ , and take it within myself as if it were my own. And then all you would amount to is a mere plaything for my amusement, which I've decided to test on you with this right here." She indicated the silver ball in her hand. "These two things, the one around your body and the one in my hand, they're living metal from an entirely different plane of existence than the one we're in. And I'm not talking about dimensions. Those are like mere rooms in a building. These are from an entirely different city, so to say." White pinched the silver ball between her thumb and index finger and held it in front of Rock's face area. "And this one is especially useful, since it's the very material that is used to create a powerful magical artifact called a Liaison's Cortex. And this will be how I remove your portion of that Lifelink from you!"

With a laugh White stood up straight and held the silver ball in her clenched fingers. The black metal cuccoon hadn't made any more shifts or ripples since the one around her sister's head, so she continued to gloat to her sister within the black goo.

"I'm especially going to enjoy using it on you to absorb your Lifelink, it is most satisfying, indeed." White slowly lowered her clenched hand towards her shorts, sliding her other hand down the front of her panties and holding them out as she held the silver ball in the same pinching grip from a moment ago, then dropped it down the gap to nestle right in front of her clitoris. "Mmmmm... Now then, I believe it's time to begin with the more... assertive methods."

With a vivid flush forming on her face, White's eyes closed as she let her head lazily roll back as the front of her white shorts started to shift and expand into a distinctive bulge, eliciting a slight coo from White's lips as she bit her lower lip.

"Excellent..." White reached down to gently undo her belt and hummed the zipper of her very clearly strained shorts down with a relieved sigh as some of the pressure it was causing was released. Without further need for the garments, she waved her hand dismissively and caused both her shorts and her panties to vanish in an instant, which revealed the new living metal appendage she had grafted to herself, specifically as a subtle means of mockery towards her little sister's pregnancy. The large, metallic silver human phallus was paired by a likewise large ballsack, but with a length and girth more befitting of a creature that was much larger than her, like a dragon.

Grasping both sides of Rock's head with her hands, White lined up the magic dildo with Rock's mouth while likewise mentally commanding the black metal cuccoon to expose her sister's face, but in her eagerness she neglected to notice that the black cuccoon was completely rigid, no longer even a hint of the former liquid consistency could be seen on the surface of the black metal anymore.

So when she thrust her hips forward, the last think she ever expected to feel was a searing torrent of utter agony to shoot up the length of the living metal dildo, and instinctively tried to pull back her hips with a scream of pain... But her hips held fast.

In a panic she glanced down and saw that Rock's mouth was indeed latched around the girth of the silvery metal, but White realized that her sister had also chosen to viciously bite down onto her length and brought with it the awareness that she could FUCKING FEEL IT!

"Shtoop'd mhoov, Srstuhr." Rock's voice enunciated around the metal in her mouth, but White realized that she was staring Rock right in the purple eyes, not the blue ones she usually had.

"You're corrupted by the Badlands?!" White tried to free herself from Rock's jaws, but the harder she pulled the stronger Rock's jaw became.

"Mmm-Hmmm." Rock hummed in agreement, her eyes crinkling into a sadistic smile as she tightened her jaw a split second before the surface of the entire cuccoon cracked loudly, glowing purple mist and likewise purple shafts of light appearing in the gaps as she chuckled darkly around the metal dildo in her mouth as White frantically tried to escape as fast as she could.

"No! This isn't part of my plans! Let me _GO_!"

Rock's head shifted to each side, clearly shaking her head No as she continued to break the entire cuccoon around her body by intentionally charging up her corruption itself, and easily kept White's pseudo-cock from going neither forward into her throat nor backwards to let her escape, simply due to the fact that her teeth were razor sharp fangs now.

White started to panic, twisting and pulling her hips as the purple light began to blind her vision and the mist slowly filled the cell. But, just before it engulfed her, she realized that the only way to escape was to detach from the living metal itself!

With a scream of agony as the symbiotic connection to her nervous system through her loins was torn away, White stumbled backwards and only barely managed to teleport back to her office before the black metal cuccoon exploded outwards in a violent pulse of the purple light that shook almost the entire bunker with a deep, ominous rumbling.

Tilting her head to each side, Rock cracked her stiff neck very loudly as she finally stood up from her prior kneeling pose and flared out her wings behind her back before marching towards the mangled doors that had contained most of the explosive force she'd generated to escape.

Standing in the lingering purple mist around her, Rock held up one hand and idly noted that she didn't _entirely_ escape from the black cuccoon like she had intended... But it wasn't a total failure either...

Now it was her armour.

From fingertip to her neck she bore sadistically jagged plate armour, and resting atop her head was a sort of visor-like headpiece that had spikes that made it resemble an upside-down crown that partially covered the left side of her head and over her ear, and left her purple eye-flame blazing brightly through the mist around her. From her feet to about mid-thigh, she was also armoured in the same black metal, but from her hips to the bottom of her ribs was bare save for her shorts and her white belt, as well as a flexible series of plates that directly covered her spine from the base of her skull all the way to her tailbone. And, her wings had some plates covering them near the joints in her upper back, with her ribs themselves covered by a solid chestplate.

With a smirk, Rock marched towards the ruined doors and heard a rattle of a chain coming from behind herself, but knew that since she was alone it was her doing. So she reached down to her lower back and snatched the chain that had sprouted from her spinal plating near her tailbone and briefly admired it before kicking the doors off their hinges and came face to face with two distinctly out of place objects levitating in front of her... Two AA-12 shotguns with large drum magazines, which were painted in all black and had two words written in silver on the sides in neat cursive script.

"Master and Mistress... Oh, now that's just cheeky, Acidika." Rock grasped the weapons in each hand, which instantly caused them both to adopt the same black metal texture as her armour had, and that likewise turned the silver writing into the same purple as her eye-flame, corrupting them in an instant. "Much better." She grinned as she clicked off the safeties and set off to find her oldest sister.

* * *

"Shit..." Jonah was the first to speak after the sudden rumbling that came from somewhere beneath their feet. "You are _not_ going to like what that was."

"Care to enlighten us you two?" Beast glared at me first, then glanced over at Jonah more gently in comparison.

" _ **Rock's busted out of her cell. She's also just found the gift I left for her in the hall**_." I reported what I could with a shrug, then Jonah spawned in his Greatsword and hefted it onto his shoulder.

"Rock's gone Insane, just like I have... She forced herself to detonate some of her corruption to get herself free from the stuff White imported to this Multiverse." Jonah could finally sense Rock's presence deep under the ground, and then turned towards the huge metal doors that lead into the bunker itself. "She's not responding in our Lifelink..."

" _ **I gave you both the proper upgrade, so don't give me that look!**_ " I shook my head when everyone turned to stare at me. " _ **And no, I have no clue why she isn't responding. You're both in range of the upgrade's limits, so something else must be interfering that White's set up inside.**_ "

"Speaking of which... Ram, you got a minute to talk?" Koko spoke up suddenly, and Ram slowly shimmered into view beside her. "Now that shit's about to go down, we can finally get rid of that fake link shit that White has on Jonah. Maybe removing that will stop the interference?"

"On it." Ram nodded and gestured for Jonah to approach her. "This won't hurt, I just need to touch your chest."

Without any objections, Jonah nodded and let Ram place her Cortex hand over his heart, and after a moment of silence, removed her hand and nodded.

"You're clean, give Rock a shout." Ram gave a small wave before fading back out of sight to get back to her recon inside the bunker.

Jonah honed in on Rock's presence deep within the bunker, able to sense all of her emotions and how she was faring, and realized that despite her Insanity being in full effect, she was completely calm! In fact, she was completely relaxed too!

And with that moment of concern, Rock seemed to sense him in return and stopped moving. _JONAH?! YOU'RE HERE?!_

 _I'm outside of the bunker with everyone, where are you inside right now?_

 _Sub-Level 4, I just left the cellblock and I'm headed after White to kick her ass. She was gloating that she's become more powerful than Acidika, and that the living metal she'd trapped me in was from another Multiverse than his. She also has another type of living metal that apparently is used to create something called a Liaison's Cortex. Isn't that the silver glove that Ram wears?_

 _Yeah, it is. Are you alright? What did White do to you?_

 _So far she failed everything she's done on me, aside from coating me in the living metal to capture me when I got out the first time. She took the Cortex metal with her, and when I blew up the black metal with my corruption, It turned that metal into a set of armour for me. I'm wearing it right now._

 _Are you alright? Is it doing anything to you?_

 _No, I'm fine. It seems to turn things I touch into a corrupted version of that item, like the two shotguns that Acidika left for me. They're both somehow just like our Cannons, rather than guns from Earth like they should be. Pretty sure if I shot them that bolts would come out... Not buckshot._

 _I get the idea... But I'm in similar armour right now too... and I'm not corrupting anything I touch._

 _You're also not directly corrupted by Badlands exposure the same way that I am._

 _Good point. So what're you gonna do? Regroup with us or should I come find you so we can go after White together?_

 _I'll come find you. Then we can all hunt her down together._

 _Alright, be careful._

Rock chuckled. _Oh please, now you're telling me to be careful? You're the one about to knock on the front fucking door to a bunker filled with White's delusional zealot troops. I'm the least of their concerns... for now, that is._

 _That's why I said be careful. We've converted some of her troops back to fighting for your mom instead of for White._

 _I'll keep that in mind. Have fun raising hell up front. I'll try to save some for you when you get through to meet back up with me._

 _Now you're just being coy._

 _Am I succeeding?_

 _Yes. Yes you are._

"So? What're we working with here?" Beast sudden spoke up, making Jonah turn his armoured face towards her and tilt his head at the bunker doors.

"Rock's in a sub-level, she's gonna regroup with us once we carve a path inside. She's gonna fill us all in properly, when we find her."

"Good! I was getting sick of waiting!" Beast turned towards her mother. "Now can I kick the door down?"

"Go right ahead." Empress chuckled slightly before addressing her revitalized soldiers. "We march against your former comrades, who have been mislead by my daughter's lies! Strike them down for their selfish treason against your Queen! They shall receive no mercy by neither yours nor my own hands!"

The Guardsmen roared out in unison, raising their weapons as Beast marched towards the front of their formation and held her Seven-Shot and her sword in each hand until she came right up to the heavy steel doors and smirked for a brief moment before the entire thing blasted inwards in an explosion of cyan flames.

"ATTACK!"

* * *

Rock jauntily skipped through the lower levels unopposed as she heard the opening crescendo of battle above her in the entrance level, and of course she knew that it was being done to rescue her... But she wasn't a damsel in a dress, let alone waiting in a tower for Prince Charming to come save her. Bitch please, she was rocking some sexy as fuck corrupted living metal armour and had two matching shotguns with it that were literally given to her by God! She didn't need a fucking Prince Charming to save her! If anything, _she_ would be the one to save _him_!

And as that cheeky comment passed through her mind, she sensed several Guardsmen approaching around the next corner, so she glanced over to the side and smoothly slid into an alcove to get the jump on the soldiers as soon as they passed her.

As soon as she was out of sight they came hurrying right past her, unable to see the barrels of Master and Mistress extending from the shadow and slowly turn towards their backs.

"Hey boys!"

All ten of them slowed to a halt at the sound of her voice, but as soon as they spotted the gun barrels they tried to raise their shields to protect themselves a split second too late as Rock pulled the triggers.

With a hail of purple bolts from each shot of the automatic shotguns, the Guardsmen survived only a few shots before the impact points of each bolt suddenly exploded with small, but clearly potent explosions of purple light that tore through their shields and platemail with utter ease, leaving their bodies exposed to the following shots of explosive plasma buckshot from each gun.

Releasing the triggers, Rock stepped out of her hidey-hole and surveyed the extent of her new toys... and promptly clenched her thighs together as the charred, smoking remnants of the Guardsmen made a veritable masterpiece of death and destruction.

"Mommy likey~!" Rock giggled sadistically as she briefly admired her shotguns in each hand. "Now why didn't anyone hear the gunfire all the way down here? Hmmmm..."

Distant shouting reached her ears, and she turned towards where the Guardsmen had initially come from, listening to the approaching footsteps and creaking of armour as she grinned slightly.

"I take that back... They _did_ hear it."

No sooner did she say the words when the first Guardsman came around the corner with his shield raised and a spear in hand, searching the corridor until locking eyes with Rock right out in the open with her shotguns already aiming at him.

"Fall back!" He barely managed to get the words out before he was blasted by the weapons, then splattered all over the walls when the plasma erupted in the flurry of small explosions. But Rock didn't stop firing, just kept walking as she extended her wings back to their usual size and concentrated her fire on the retreating Guardsmen as she rounded the corner.

* * *

The main level of the bunker was in utter chaos. Spells, bullets, and bolts were all throughout the air, and swords of all sizes were being sung, clashing and clanging against each other almost constantly.

Koko and the crew were using whatever cover they could find to shoot their guns at White's troops that were clashing with Empress' newly loyal forces, whilst she, Beast and the girls fought at the front with the soldiers. Hex was close to where Koko was, both of them leaning around concrete pillars to shoot. Jonah, however, was somewhere in the center of the enemy forces without anyone helping him... Because he didn't need it.

With the sheer size of his Greatsword, the Guardsmen fighting him all had spears, just to be able to reach him, but no matter what they tried, he wasn't taking a single strike from any of their long weapons, mostly due to his superior agility, but also because he could fly above them and out of their reach.

I myself was still complying with my flintlock usage, and manually did the reloading process after each shot, by hand, using blackpowder and lead shot that I manifested in a pair of pouches on my hip. So because of my weapon, the air in the bunker was filling with a haze of smoke, which would be buffeted by Jonah's wings every time he flew around. It also had the harsh scent of the powder hitting everyone's throats too, so despite Jonah's orders, I stopped using blackpowder as I fired a shot through a gap in the battle and missed the Guardsmen I was aiming for. Instead of the blackpowder, I manifested modern gunpowder in a metal canister that I then shoved into my back pocket so that the air wouldn't become completely filled by the smoke.

Meanwhile, Empress was already making for a push in the front lines, directing the loyal troops to form up and advance with the covering fire from the humans behind them, whilst informing Hex to have them all move up in their Lifelink.

"Koko, Empress just told me that we need to move up! I'll cover you guys on that side, then you cover us when you're in position!" Hex called over the gunfire and clashing weapons.

"You have no cover on that side!" Koko already noticed the problem with the side that Hex, Lehm, Ugo and R were on. There wasn't any decent cover for them to use on their side of the area they were currently in.

"I know! Trust me!" Hex called back, smoothly reloading her rifle and shoving the empty magazine back into the pouch on her vest. "Hun, we need some hard cover about fifteen feet to your immediate right!" She informed Empress in their Lifelink, and Empress gave an affirmation before holding out her right hand and caused the concrete floor to rise up into a short wall for them to use. "Thanks!"

"Alright, you heard her! She's gonna cover us while we move up on this side! Then we cover them when we're in position! Get ready to move!" Koko ordered to everyone else with her, and nodded to Hex to let her know they were advancing. "GO!"

* * *

White paced back and forth in front of her desk, ignoring the distant sounds of the gunfire and combat at the main entrance. She knew it was a rescue attempt to get Rock, but there was a major problem now that she'd learned about her sister's corruption, let alone the fact she had escaped from the black metal cuccoon and most likely was on her way through the sublevels to join the battle.

White heaved a sigh, trying to come up with some sort of plan to handle things not just with Rock down below, but also how to get rid of the rescue invasion too.

"Hmmm..." White hummed aloud, trying to think over the sounds of battle was giving her a headache, so she rubbed her temples with both hands, clenching her eyes closed to collect herself, then stopped in her tracks as she sensed something else was in the room with her. "Reveal yourself."

A giggle reached her ears, so she spun around and opened her eyes, coming face to face with a girl with large horns on both sides of her head, who was wearing a white dress with a pink sash and a single silvery gauntlet on her left hand.

"Took you long enough." The girl's smirk hinted to White that she'd been hiding for a lot longer than it may seem. "Mind if I ask what you're gonna do now that you sensed my presence?"

"Who are you?" White demanded with a stern scowl adorning her features.

"Ram." The girl replied, smiling slightly with a glint in her pink eyes. "I already know who you are, by the way."

"Then what are you doing here? You're clearly a mage, but not one of the ones I've brought to this dimension."

"I'm doing my job, which despite your accurate notion of what I am... isn't very surprising for you to immediately assume I'm even from Otherworld in the first place." Ram replied with the same smirk still on her face. "You have something that doesn't belong to you, and I've finally decided to reveal myself so that I can retrieve it."

"You're a Liaison, aren't you?"

"I am. So you know what I'm here to get back." Ram replied, her eyes glinting with a subtle threat.

"And what makes you think I will give it to you at all?"

"You're trying to buy time, I'm not stupid." Ram took a step forward and lost her playful smirk, replacing it with a frown. "So hand it over, or I will take it by force. You don't even understand the power it contains, let alone how to use it."

"And you do?" White challenged, noticing Ram's Cortex hand wasn't curled into a fist like her other hand was.

"I've been able to use it for longer than you might think." Ram took another step forward. "Unlike you, I don't look my age."

"You're immortal... aren't you?" White took an instinctive step back when Ram approached the second time.

"I became a Liaison when I was just turning sixteen." Ram held up her Cortex hand with the palm up. "Hand it over, child. I will not ask again, then I will take it by force."

"How old are you now?" White slowly reached back to pick up the silver ball from the desk behind her, knowing that any sudden moves wouldn't work in her favour. She had no other options than to obey... for now.

"I've been a Liaison for four hundred and seven years." Ram replied, taking the silver ball from White's hand and smoothly absorbed it into her own Cortex. "Now then... All you need to know about me is that had you even tried to pull a fast one on me, I'd have teleported you out of the planet's atmosphere before your next heartbeat." Ram lowered her hand as she faded from sight with a smirk back on her face. "Besides, a scrawny bitch like you probably can't even throw a real punch either."

"Yes, I can!" White scowled lividly at the commentary as Ram totally disappeared without another word.

* * *

Rock was making excellent progress through Sublevel 3 when she felt a shift in the air around her. Something was in the storage area with her, and it wasn't a Guardsmen or a mage...

Flapping her wings to hover up onto a cargo container, she scanned the area for signs of movement while honing her ears in for any nearby sounds. She knew she wasn't alone, but whatever it was... it was smart enough to use stealth from the start.

"Show yourself, or I will open fire." Rock declared loudly, standing up at full height on top of the container, holding Master and Mistress at the ready while a chain snaked out from her lower back like a tail.

A low growl reached her ears, coming from ahead of her, so she scanned the floor around the spot she'd heard it come from and spotted a dark shape moving between two containers...

"Viir." Rock scowled, watching the black Deavor slowly approach her on the floor despite her position on top of the shipping container. "I knew it."

Viir stopped approaching and tilted it's head up to stare at her with it's purple eyes, no longer growling.

"Are you going to make the first move?" Rock taunted as she hopped off the container and stood in front of Viir with a slight scowl. Viir wasn't behaving the way it usually would, something wasn't right here.

Viir didn't move for a moment, then very slowly approached her, which made Rock raise her shotguns in warning, but Viir kept up it's slow approach and stopped right at her feet, sitting like a dog and tilted it's head to the side, clearly curious as it's eyes seemed to stare directly into her belt, rather than looking up at her face...

And then it nuzzled it's face against her lower stomach, sounding like it was... purring?

Rock's eyes widened in surprise. Viir could tell that she was pregnant!

"That's why you didn't attack me the last time I saw you... How didn't I realize that?" Rock was still wary about the drastic change in Viir's behaviour, but after a few more moments of nuzzling her, Viir stopped and stepped back before turning away and walking away for several paces before turning it's head back towards her, and realized she wasn't moving.

Rock knew the look in Viir's eyes, it was one she'd learned from Roxy. Viir wanted her to follow it. So she sighed and folded her wings over her back and approached the creature, who resumed walking just ahead of her and continued purring once again.

* * *

Jonah sensed Rock changing course down below, and figured that she was taking some sort of detour. But, he also could sense that she wasn't annoyed like he'd expected her to be for having to take a different route... Something wasn't right, but not in a bad way.

Hovering up out of reach, he turned to Empress and called out to her. "I'm going on ahead! Can you handle this without me?!"

"Absolutely!" Empress replied with a firm nod. "You know where she is anyway! Get going!"

With that, Jonah dismissed his Greatsword and flew deeper into the bunker's depths, ignoring the group of Guardsmen that tried to give chase before being thrown through the air by Strength's Ogre Arms.

For a short while, Jonah was able to fly without hindrance, but he eventually had to land on the floor because of the corridors no longer being spacious enough for him to spread his wings. So he folded them and dismissed them entirely, which returned his upper back to just having his shoulder blades and kept the larger muscle structure required for using the wings. Likewise, his armour covered the vacant holes in an instant by shifting the plates that had previously covered his wing joints.

With that he hurried off in the direction that he could sense Rock two levels below, and within five minutes came across a secondary defensive line inside of what appeared to be a large hangar or garage.

Dodging the initial barrage of spells and bolts, Jonah respawned his wings, as well as his Cannon in the LMG form and flew overhead while raining the Guardsmen and mages with a torrent of his own red bolts, then sensed movement ahead of himself and tilted himself backwards to stop his forward momentum, just barely missing the swing from another of the giant Guardsmen that was armed with a huge two-handed maul.

Jonah smirked and switched his Cannon over to the sniper rifle form, then flew around in a large curve before lining up his scope with the giant's eyeslots in the helmet, and fired, which of course blinded the giant in a roar of agony. He then flew around the flailing behemoth and shot the other eye in the same fashion, then dismissed his Cannon for his Greatsword, launching forward and landing on the side of the giant Guardsman's neck to shove his Greatsword into his exposed neck, viciously carving the blade to slit his huge throat in a shower of red blood, flying out of the way before it could drench his wings and weigh him down too much.

The giant fell back with a thundering crash, trying to cover his wounds with his hands, but couldn't stop the bleeding and died in under a minute, leaving Jonah hovering over the body for a moment before swooping down to a freight elevator and descending to the lower levels to find Rock.

When he arrived in Sublevel 2, he sensed that Rock wasn't far away, and immediately hurried towards a map on the wall, which showed the layout of the current level he was on.

Rock seemed to be in the main atrium area, right in the middle of the whole level, and she wasn't moving towards any of the exits, so something... or someone... currently had her attention. So Jonah called out to her in their Lifelink.

 _Rock, I'm on the same Sublevel as you, I found a map near the elevators that's telling me you're in the main atrium._

 _Yeah, I'm just handling a quick thing I've come across. Are you alright? The halls on this level are too small for our wings, and there's still some Guardsmen doing patrols to find me. They know I'm still on this level because of my shotguns._

 _I'm on my way. Are you waiting for me there?_

 _Yeah, I'm right out in the open, don't worry about my little friend, I'm fine._

 _Friend?_

 _Viir's with me. I'm pretty sure it's tame because of my corruption. It's from the Badlands, after all._

 _Alright, I'm on my way. I'll be there shortly._

With that, Jonah scanned the map for the fastest route to the atrium and hurried off. Within a few minutes he was just entering the atrium and finally laid his eyes on Rock, who was currently sitting on a bench beside the distinctive black Deavor from when they'd been in Otherworld a mere 16 hours earlier.

"Good, you're both here." Viir suddenly spoke up in English, which made both of them pause before they had attempted to rush into each other's arms. "Just a moment please."

With that, Viir smoothly transformed into a man with black hair and striking orange and blue heterochromatic eyes, wearing a blue cloak with sturdy golden armour on the shoulders, which made both of them gawk in utter shock at the very familiar garment...

" _FATHER_!" Rock rushed into his armoured chest, and hugged him.

"Yes, my dear, I am alive." He returned the hug with a warm smile at his youngest daughter. "And I know much about what has gone on in my absence."

"How did you know?" Rock asked, surprised.

"That'd be from me." Ram spoke up as she shimmered into visibility. "Your Highness, as we'd agreed, you're gonna tell them what White's been preparing to do. I have to get back to my boss right now, so everything's gonna be left in your hands, alright?"

"Thank you, for everything you've done for us." Rock's father nodded at the horned girl, who nodded in return before fading away again. "Now, as for you, young man... My name is Osiris Gold Shooter, I've not yet introduced myself to you."

"My full name is Johnathan Mar, but I usually go by Jonah." Jonah bowed his head in respect to Rock's father. "I'm her Lifelink partner... and the father of her children."

"I've kept watch over both of you since her arrival in this dimension. And I've come to greatly trust you as my own son. You've made me very proud, both of you." Osiris replied warmly. "Now, as Miss Ram just stated, I have something to tell you concerning my oldest daughter's scheme here."

"So what's she been trying to do? Aside from steal our Lifelink from us?" Rock finally let go of her father and stepped back to look up at him through her blazing purple eye-flame.

"She has been enthralled by Jonah, wrought by jealousy that she wouldn't be his partner. So she had initially come to Earth seeking you to capture, and then to manipulate with a plethora of spells to put you both under her total control... But that plan was changed when she found a way to visit an entirely different realm than the one we're currently in, this Multiverse, is the name Ram gave it. White returned with some sort of black liquid metal, and then went somewhere within this Multiverse again to also bring another similar type of sentient metal, which is the metal that Ram's gauntlet is made from. Ram has since recovered that particular metal from White's possession."

"We've figured that much out, so far." Jonah nodded slightly. "So what's so special about this bunker?"

"White found it and adapted it for her usage, but I know nothing beyond that." Osiris shook his head slightly. "But, I can tell you that she's on this very level of the whole place, in her office unless she's moving around somewhere."

"Which way?" Rock asked, since she'd received Jonah's memory of the map of the whole Sublevel.

"This way, at the end of whole floor." Osiris pointed at the area to their left, which was the opposite of where they'd both initially come from. "There are only her Honour Guardsmen and her mages there to protect the office, but they're no match for either of you, I assure you."

"So what's the plan?" Jonah asked.

"I would prefer that we capture her. She _is_ my daughter, after all." Osiris pointed out. "But, as much as it pains me to say it... kill her if she refuses to submit, and please... only as a last resort."

"Of course." Jonah nodded, and Rock sighed slightly before nodding as well.

"I still wanna beat the shit out of her."

* * *

White tapped her index finger on the surface of her desk in a testy silence. Without the Cortex metal, she had only two real options; surrender or retreat back to the Palace. The only real way that she could get out of this whole mess now would be to unleash her new powers completely, which would cost her far too much, even if she defeated everyone that was standing against her.

Shaking her head in annoyance, she dismissed that foolhardy thought in an instant. It wasn't worth it to do that. She needed some sort of trick, some small slip-up, something to shift the odds into her favour... But what could do that in time?

" _ **Unlike Ram, I don't need to conceal my presence**_."

White gasped and flinched at the sudden voice in her office, looking up at me with a scowl forming on her face. "And who are you? Another Liaison?"

" _ **No, I'm the big boss man himself**_." I replied. " _ **I've just received the Cortex metal from Ram, so now all I need to do is figure out how you managed to get it and the black metal you've used on Rock into my Multiverse in the first place**_."

"What's your name?" White glared at me without moving.

" _ **Acidika**_."

"And you're the one that created this Multiverse, I presume?"

" _ **I am**_."

"Are you aware of the holes in the whole thing? I got through one and got what I needed back in with the same hole." White replied to my initial comment. "As for the Cortex metal, it's local to the Multiverse, so I simply went and grabbed some and came back here."

" _ **Are you aware that your actions threatened the entire Multiverse's destruction?**_ " I asked, tilting my head slightly towards her.

"How so?"

" _ **Your meddling with foreign objects became interconnected with your little sister's corruption from the Badlands in Otherworld, and the mutual transitions here to Earth have brought about even further problems that have since grown out of control. I already know you've come to consider your new powers beyond that of the gods... but did you ever consider the fact that those 'gods' are merely employees to an even greater power than themselves?**_ "

"So the Seven Elders aren't as powerful as you are... You're the most powerful entity in this Multiverse." White's eyebrows and gaze hardened into a glare. "And where do I stand between you and them, with my powers?"

" _ **You're about sixteen percent stronger than all seven of the Elders combined. Your sister, Rock... is about forty two percent stronger than all seven Elders, and she's growing stronger by the minute if she's left unchecked**_."

"I already know she's dangerous."

" _ **Then why don't you stop stroking your ego and help the rest of us find a way to stop her from overloading and find a way to halt the growth of her corruption?**_ " I challenged with a smirk easily visible through my beard.

"And why should I bother to do that?" White demanded with a raised eyebrow.

" _ **If she overloads... she'll wipe out this dimension, which will cause my whole Multiverse to destabilize and implode on itself. I don't want that to happen, and have chosen to only intervene directly as an absolute last resort**_."

"So you're trying to deal with my meddling and stop her from causing everything and everything from blowing up in your face? And yet I still see no reason to help deal with her little problem in the first place."

" _ **I can make you do whatever I want. But I've chosen to let you have your free will. Don't tempt the limits of such a**_ ** _privilege_**." I put my hands onto the surface of her desk and leaned forward, revealing my glowing green eyes for the second time. " _ **You're going to name a price, and that price shall be to get you to help with Rock's 'little problem' otherwise I'm going to remove your free will in a way that you will never forget**_."

"Any price?" White scoffed for a moment. But then paused, thinking about her whole plan to be with Jonah, the only individual that she'd ever felt was worth her heart and soul. "I want... Jonah. I want him to feel the same way that I feel about him, I want to be his, and him to be mine!"

" _ **I can arrange that. Is that your price to deal with Rock's problem to your fullest extent?**_ "

"Yes. It is."

" _ **Then call off your troops and tell them all the truth of what you've deluded them into believing. I'll see to it that your price is fulfilled.**_ " I removed my hands from the desk and turned to walk away. " _ **Oh, and by the way... If Rock overloads, and I fix it myself... our little deal is off. Understood?**_ "

"Yes, Acidika. I accept the terms of our agreement." White replied, and with that I faded from sight just before the office door was kicked off it's hinges with a huge crash, which made White hastily stand up while charging her hand with a defensive barrier spell.

"You're not running? That's a surprise." Rock walked in with Mistress raised in her armoured hand, aiming it at White's nose across the desk, the muzzle brake quivering a mere three inches from her face. "But from what I just heard you saying, you've finally met Acidika in person, haven't you?"

"I have, yes." White dismissed her spell and slowly held up her hands, watching as Jonah entered the office with Rock's other shotgun in his hands, holding it against his chest. "And he's told me to stand down from everything I've been doing so that you don't overload and destroy everything in his Multiverse."

"Wait, what?" Rock blinked in confusion. "I thought Acidika couldn't interfere unless it was out of our hands or something?"

"He's not interfering, he's just gotten one of the things he'd been after this whole time." Jonah glanced at Rock for a moment before turning his gaze back to White. "So what were the terms to your agreement with him?"

"I stop my meddling, help come up with a way to save the Multiverse, and call off my schemes. I've already done the first and the third. I'm still working on the second part." White replied. "My forces that haven't been killed should be standing down by now, so Sister... could you lower the weapon, please?"

"I don't trust _you_ just yet. Consider it a sibling matter... for now." Rock shook her head slightly. "So with that being said, why haven't you come up with something about my corruption?"

"It's kinda hard to think with a gun in my face." White pointed out. "You can point it at me all you want, I'm just asking you to take it away from my face. Please?"

"Rock, c'mon." Jonah sighed loudly, and after a moment, Rock lowered it to a two-handed hip stance, still aiming it at her oldest sister.

"Now then... Since your corruption is growing at such an accelerated rate, I think that wherever you were initially corrupted in the Badlands was particularly potent, since the known process of exposure takes place over time, and from what I know about your particular case, you were fine until you came to Earth. At some point something caused the dormant corruption to become active, and from that point onward you've been growing more powerful very fast."

"So what do you mean by dormant?" Jonah asked, since he remembered the first time Rock had ever gone Insane, which was when he'd been shot by the two hitmen in Dubai.

"I'm saying that her initial exposure didn't have an effect on her like it should have. If a Guardsmen were the one in her place, he'd have succumbed to the corruption within a week, maybe two, of being in the Badlands without ever leaving. Rock was there for three years, and only when she came here to Earth did her corruption actually take effect."

"Hang on..." Rock's exposed eye narrowed slightly. "I think I have an idea."

"What's that?" Jonah asked, but Rock shook her head slightly.

"Acidika. I need you to teleport the four of us back to Koko and my mother." Rock spoke loudly, but Ram was the one that shimmered into sight.

"Big boss man's dealing with something else, I'll bring you up to everyone. Osiris, sir, could you join us in here please?"

Osiris stepped into the office and earned a shocked stare from White, who was too stunned to even speak to him as Ram teleported them all to the main entrance of the bunker where Koko and Empress were speaking to each other about the sudden surrender of White's troops.

"Koko! Mom! No time to explain what happened. I have something to tell you all about my corruption."

" _Rock?!_ " Koko turned at the sound of the long unheard slight French-accented voice and fought back tears of relief, despite the rousing cheers of the Guardsmen on both sides for her sudden return.

"I have a bold idea that might stop my corruption from growing anymore. But I need the two of you..." Rock pointed her free hand at White and her mother. "To set aside any bullshit about the whole coup crap, I need to go back to the Badlands. I think that now that I've gone Insane that I can neutralize the growth because I wasn't actually corrupted by the Badlands in the first place! I was corrupted by coming here to Earth!"

"Wait, what?!" Empress blinked several times in confusion. "How is that possible?!"

"It would seem that she is immune to the Badlands' corruption itself, but that immunity didn't carry over to Earth when she went through the initial Portal Sphere. But the problem is that the type of Spheres that I used to find her in the first place were all connected to each other, including the accidental one I sent here on Earth. So when she went through, since they were all over the Badlands _and_ on Earth, the Earth Sphere is what corrupted her when she was deposited out of it!" White realized what Rock had figured out. "So if we send her back to the Badlands while she's already corrupted, then it will cancel itself out completely!"

"Wait, hang on... if you do that, then she can never come back to Earth... if we try to bring her back, she'll just get corrupted all over again." Jonah spoke up suddenly, looking at Rock specifically. "And I'm corrupted too... I would have to go with her..."

"I fucking called it, I knew something like this would happen..." Hex grumbled aloud. "So why haven't I been fucked up like those two? And what about Black Gold Saw with your brother?" She asked Koko, who shrugged.

"Because they weren't in the Badlands when they initially arrived here on Earth..." Osiris spoke up suddenly, since until now nobody had even noticed he was standing there.

" _Osiris_?!" Empress' eyes widened and her jaw dropped, and Hex immediately recognized him as Empress' husband.

"It's a long story, I will gladly share it another time. Right now we must..."

" _ **My apologies, but it would seem that Rock's idea is correct.**_ " I suddenly spoke up as I appeared in the middle of their vague circle. " _ **If we send the two of them to the Badlands, the opposite effects of the corruptions will indeed neutralize each other, halting her exponential growth almost completely. She's still going to gain power, but at a rate that's considerably safer and much more stable in general. And, sadly... Jonah's right too... it's a one-way trip if we want to stop her from accelerating as quickly as she has. For her to go back to Otherworld is going to stop her power levels from overloading.**_ "

"But..." Koko could feel the wave of reality hitting her as the tears started to form in her eyes.

"Koko..." Rock stepped forward and pulled her adoptive mother down into a hug. "Acidika said it will neutralize the growth rate. It's not gonna kill me, it won't overshoot and drain my powers, it's gonna level me out."

"But I..." Koko tried to argue, overcome by her emotions to even form a coherent sentence.

"But I can still visit you. I'll just need to go back to the Badlands to neutralize the new corruption each time." Rock held Koko at arms length by the shoulders. "I've also got twins on the way, so I'm gonna need a place to put them in the first place. And the last time I checked, we were already short one bed at the house in Sussex."

"Acidika, would she be able to visit Earth safely like that?"

" _ **She'd have to use a time-limited Portal Sphere, to ensure that the exposure is measured and controllable... And if my existing numbers for her total corruption since her arrival are correct, she and Jonah could come back once a week, for up to 24 hours at a time... but, that'll have to wait until after the twins are born, she's already going to need a grace period to balance herself out after being corrupted for so long. And unfortunately, everyone else will also have to go back with her, just in case they're also carrying dormant corruptions**_."

"For certain?" Koko asked, and I nodded.

" _ **Absolutely certain**_." I replied, then turned to Jonah and White. " _ **Now, as for the two of you and your agreements we've made...**_ "

"You made one too?" White turned to Jonah, who nodded and held out one of his hands towards me.

I placed my palm over top of his, and smoothly handed over the small item he had secretly requested from me. I then turned towards White and said. " _ **A deal's a deal... but just remember the wording you chose for your price to me.**_ "

"What is that supposed to mean?" White demanded, but I was already gone as she suddenly felt Jonah's armoured hand latch around her throat and her back to slam into the nearby concrete pillar.

"He never said _how_ he'd arrange for your price to take effect with me." Jonah's eye was gleaming with scarlet light as White made the mistake of looking into his eyes. "And he never said what you've already done to me and Rock wouldn't still matter either... isn't that right, _slave_?"

"But I..." White couldn't fight the mental domination that he was bombarding her with, all she could feel and understand was the utter loyalty and submission to him, and him alone. "Y-yes... _Master_."

"You will also obey your mother and father, as well as my wife and your younger sister the same way that you obey me. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Master. I understand."

"Wait, your _wife?_!" Empress and Koko had heard every word and both of them spoke at the same time, just before Rock thundered into his chest and hugged him.

"JONAH?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Koko demanded, pretty damn sure she knew what was happening right before her eyes.

Rock grabbed his clenched fist and held it between their faces, knowing that he was still holding the engagement ring she'd seen me giving to him a moment ago.

"Should I even say it?" Jonah asked as his armour's half-mask split apart and revealed his full face, which was that special smile he reserved just for her.

"Just shut up and kiss me." Rock replied before swooping in to do just that.

 _ **FIN**_


	62. Epilogue

**A/N: Here's the end of the story, as I had promised, but first I must inform you of something that might be obvious to some of you; this story is actually in the same 'dimension' as it were... as two of my other series, that being "Broken & Reborn, Stella" and its sequel "Breaking Bones and Hearts"... as well as my Darkwood trilogy, which is "Silence", "Yuki-Onna", and "Syndicate". Specifically, this story took place from early August 2015 to late March of 2016 in the respective story timelines for Silence and Insanity. Yuki-Onna and the rest of the stories involved don't happen for another 15 years after that, in the 2030's. Regardless, those of you that didn't notice that whole concept are now aware of it, so I'll stop running off and just thank everyone that reviewed, favourited and followed this story specifically since I started it. So enjoy this epilogue, and I'll see you in the next story I write. Cheers!**

* * *

Two years later...

"How's business been, Koko?" Rock asked as she cradled her son, Blake, in her arms to let him breastfeed from her chest on his own.

"Now that Jormungand's active, business is booming, what with the shit show that apparently went on with the Umbrella Corporation last year. Turns out they're more corrupt than you were, haha!" Koko chuckled slightly, since the former business giant had been taken down by Tobias Darkwood, who was apparently some sort of bioweapon that they'd made called a T-Ghoul. She had a few people keeping her posted on the ongoing legal storm that Tobias had stirred up right after destroying an entire city, Raccoon City, the home of Umbrella's HQ, with a nuclear missile strike.

"Sounds like the world's still turning over here." Rock smiled slightly as she carefully reached for her cup of tea between them. "How's the clone of Jonah that Acidika made to stabilize things?"

"Acidika ordered me to never tell him about what went on. He even had to wipe everyone else's memories of you and the real Jonah when he detected a resurgence of corruption. Apparently I'm the only one immune to being corrupted that way, just like you are."

"Does the clone know who I am?" Rock asked, checking to make sure that the clone of her husband wasn't in the house with them.

"He knows your name, and that you're like family to me. He doesn't know about your Jonah at all." Koko shook her head slightly, since she was holding Malka, Rock and Jonah's daughter, in her lap, and she was sound asleep, already having shown the signs of her battle-mage heritage, just like her older brother's intense appetite proved he was a warrior.

"And I hear from a certain Liaison that you've switched teams since I left." Rock teased, her eyes glinting mischievously at Koko's little secret with the Jonah clone. Of course, Koko caught onto what she was referring to in an instant.

"Says the one that married the first one. You should know better than anyone what a catch he is." Koko teased right back, since she could see both of the dazzling jeweled rings on Rock's left hand, and the third - her wedding band - on her right.

"See, whether or not he and I were Lifelinked, I'd have still did my damnedest to get into his pants before you could." Rock winked cheekily as she sipped her tea and set it back down. "Which reminds me... You still bang Valmet, right?"

"Sometimes both of them together." Koko smiled mischievously.

"On the topic of clones, I hear the Hex clone is a real cunt now that she's back to being the CIA's rabid dog for Undershaft." Rock smiled knowingly. "They still trying that operation after all these years?"

"Unfortunately their minds were all wiped too, so Undershaft is back to being sad, pathetic and predictable again. It was so much more interesting when I had to juggle the five of you teenagers, work, keep Valmet at bay, run the household, and fool the CIA into thinking that they were the ones leading our little dance routine. Now it's just so... boring."

"You should go drag Valmet and Chiquita back to that spa. Did Acidika wipe those memories from them?"

"Not sure, to be honest." She turned to me pointedly just as I finished shimmering into sight and appeared in the empty armchair nearby to them in the living room. "Well?"

" _ **It's a vague memory of the spa trip, they both remember going and that they'd had a good time, but neither remember anything that was said or that happened that's related to it in any form**_."

"Gonna stick around for some tea, big boss man? Or is there another crisis going on in your Multiverse?" Rock asked with a slight smirk tugging at her lips.

" _ **Nah, I got time for tea. Besides, you and I both know I wouldn't be making a personal appearance like this if there was another crisis going on. In fact, you're the only real problem even occurring in the entire 'verse today. Corruption's a bitch, ain't it?**_ " I chuckled, then caught myself. " _ **Oh, my bad. Shouldn't be swearing in front of the kids like that.**_ "

"So, Acidika..." Koko asked with a cheeky smirk. "How do you take your tea?"

I smiled at the callback she was making. " _ **Milk and two sugar, please.**_ "

* * *

Rock returned to the Badlands a few minutes ahead of her Portal Sphere's scheduled return time, and was pleased to find that Jonah was already waiting for her, sitting perched atop the barrel of her former home, big cannon, which was chosen as the usual return point for every visit with Koko they had.

"How're they doing?" Jonah fluttered down to greet her, and picked his daughter from Rock's very occupied arms with a smile, since she was finally awake and happily cooed to greet him, both of them looking so much like their mother, save for their silver hair and red/blue heterochromatic eyes, which were also opposing to each other in their arrangement.

"Malka slept like a mage, and Blake doesn't seem to share your love of backsides. He drank himself to sleep before I had even finished my cup of tea with Koko." Rock smiled at the sight of their daughter in his arms, already gurgling and cooing happily.

"And how's Koko?" Jonah smiled slightly, since his last visit had been out of sync with Rock's, he couldn't go to Earth for two more days.

"She's bored with the lack of teenagers to keep her entertained, although she's certainly keeping herself occupied in all the right ways with Valmet _and_ that clone of yours." Rock's tone gave away what she meant, and Jonah chuckled knowingly.

"Why doesn't that surprise me in the slightest?" He shook his head for a moment and then sighed. "Shall we fly back, or should we use a Portal Sphere this time?"

"Sphere this time, then we'll put these two to bed for the night." Rock held up one finger and glanced over to where she wanted the Sphere to appear. "After you."

* * *

"So, wait... Koko's bored without a bunch of teenagers in the house?" Hex laughed slightly over dinner that evening with Empress, Osiris, Dead Master - with her proud new green vertebrae-shaped horns on full display -, Chariot, Strength and Beast all very curious about the bit of gossip Rock was sharing from this week's visit to Earth. "And Bookman's _still_ trying to rope her in with Undershaft?!"

"Yeah, and your clone's gone back to being a loose cannon, so it makes the CIA even more predictable for her to outsmart them." Rock laughed too. "And, best part of it all... She's banging the Jonah clone."

" _No_!" Even Empress was giddy with excitement for that piece of news. "She had to have been joking!"

"Nope! Clone even came into the house while we were chatting and gave her a kiss right in front of me and Acidika!"

"When did he show up?" Osiris laughed heartily with the mental image of the open display of affection.

"About an hour and a half before I came back." Rock shrugged as she briefly paused to take a drink of wine, which was a new thing since her 18th birthday last month, that she had a glass of wine with her dinner every once in a while. "He even said that their romance wasn't his doing. It just happened on it's own!"

"The ring on my finger still isn't enough to throttle my raging sex appeal, and apparently neither is cloning." Jonah held up his hand that had his own wedding band. "And it's even funnier because I can't seem to control it when it happens either."

"Y'never know, Jonah... You might have more control over it than you think." Hex smirked slightly at him, and since she'd recently done the long, tedious healing ritual to fix her face, she was able to even add a little wink to her comment, which earned a snort from Rock.

"You're a flaming lesbian, I doubt he has _that_ much sex appeal to make you switch teams like that."

"Koko did." Hex countered with a point of her fork. "And last time I checked, you swapped teams for him too, pretty much the moment you laid eyes on him too, I should add."

Rock tried to counter that, but couldn't come up with anything clever and let out a sigh of defeat.

"Okay, maybe Jonah _does_ have that much sex appeal..."

"That's fine. Looking is free. But they can't touch what isn't theirs." Jonah leaned over and lightly turned her face towards his for a kiss, then when they separated he added. "Unless you're up for a threesome, of course..."

"Maybe I am." Rock winked cheekily as everyone laughed at their usual risque antics. "Or maybe White's going to need to keep an eye on the twins while I have my way with you tonight."

"I can arrange that." Jonah replied with a wink of his own while flashing her that special smile of his. One full of promises and mischief that she knew oh-so-well.

 **FIN**


End file.
